New-York tribune., 1903-04-24

When Give Tfrrrnis paused at the side door or
Ezra Brunt's great shop, in Machin-st. and the
door opened to him by Ezra Brunts oatgnefTr r1f
before he had had time pull the bell, not only
all Machin-st. knew it within the hour but also
TbuTsday afternoon-Thursday being early clos
ing day. For Hanbridge. though II counts ST. ui
Towns-that vast huddled congeries Of bororghs
devoted to the manufacture OF eartnen@areu1Si i,
business stin dourishes in rustic perfection
most retail house, in any branch of trade Of the
FIVE Towns had no rival nearer than Man Man
chester, thirty-siz miles off and even ManGhester
could exhibit nothing conspcuousiy superior 10
it. The most acutey critical shoppers OF the rLee
to London every year for the January sales, spoke
6n1bans og these women manufacturers who
ployed from 200 to 1000 men regarded Ezra brant t
themselves Brunt who had served his apprentice
ship at Birmingham started business m IN maenin Ia+
9dsstIe an an ancient burg contiguous with. but
Five Towns He paid $50 a year rent, and lived we'd
over the shop, and in the summer quarter ms ms
years success tarred but in lS2 ms dausnIeI @ e Eve
the sun Of his prosperity climbed higher and higher
his VIE and having lost her he abandoned himself
TO the mercantile struggle with tnat moroSe anu
ter. VI T9de sabt sbi , teTnna9 he vet had the
yae nay BIZ and tender socitude with which forsang
dialect he drops into a womans ear his famous
stereotyped phrase: Are you receiving proper at
tention, madam" From the first he escheWed the
faciIe trickeries and ostentadons which allure the
He 9GS 5qgh r He Rh Mond dasS neveT ON
hoardings; for many years he had no signooar9
'Bostocks" the huge cheap diapers lower down
Machin-st on the opposite side. attracts you at
everv railway station and in every tramcar, the
name OF ''E. Brunt' is to be seen only in modest
GegaT f epos e retcehce respecta
bIity II was these attributes which he decided his
shop should possess. ard by means Of which he sue
ceeded To enter Brunt's with It's silently swinging
doors its broad. easy satrcases its long ho9rs coy
cred with warm red linoleum its parutionea "ais,
its smooth mahogany counters its un96tTGsiye & mir
t narSad}ns Atmosphere of quietude and dscre
ton, was like entering temple before the act OF
some supreme administrative influence everywhere
imposing itself That influence was Ezra Brunt h
io1st souls which snoider in this harsh midland
veaIing their strange fires only in the darkness.
In 1879 Brunt's establishment occupied four shops
Nos 80 Sc IS and 60-in Machin-st. He had bought
gaTded as exoTbitant but the solicitors Of Han;
shrewdness in anticipating the enormous rise IN IN
ground values. which has now been III raPld; steauS
progress there for more than a decade. de had
several shops opposite, and rumor said that II was
ell at low figure if the council would cut new
street leading from his premises to the N Market
eral approval But there one serious hiatus IN
the Elans of Ira BTuntlo & %is No % cben1isf's
shop, shabby. but sedate as to appearanse owned
ard occupied by George Christopher Timnis. a
mild and venerable citizen and local preacher IN IN
the Wesleyan Methodist connection; For heaIIE ,
thirty wears Brunt had coveted Mr.. Ifmmis Shops
more than twenty years have elansed since ne hrst
means eager TO selI-ndeed. his attitude dis
tinctIy a repellant one-but a bargain would un-
reached the ears of Mr.. Timms to the effect that
Ezra Rrunt had remarked at the TURKS Ks Head Head
brass farthirg he could got. The rA''1rt "'S
true, but Mr. Tmrnis believed it. and from that hat
moment Ezra BruntS chances OF ODLaIills tIiS
chemists shop vanished comp 'etely; His lawyer ex-
week till the incredible sum of 5000 was reached;
Then Ezra Brgnt himself saw ad Ny Wit mns MS ta aRa
:. .Gn) guineas for this BIT O property? Not 5osV
OF the .TEoIth5 o 1,Ded ,pt ~ Yonf said Ezra
Tberceforth feud existed, not less bitter because
ing dore-a silent and inplacable mutual resistance
sturrv brown brick shop front Of Mr. Timms.
squeezed in between those massive: @ luxurious luxurious
erected The pharmaceutical business OF NJ. nm I'M
ynis was not large one. ana. nscally,
Ezra BP9nt p9 erSd fHnia To neonVenence; but in
that tie aged chemist had lived on lust naif
5s 6de,tcn ST4H w9s ir1pregnsrle snbridge smiled
,yr{caII AT mis- inopasse produced by an idle word
and recognizing The equality of the antagonists.
leaned neither to one side nor to the other At
intervals however. the legend Of the feud was en-
mouth of some inventive GOSSIP and py dssFees &
which parents recount TO their children with sucn
zest in moods OF reminiscence.
When George Christopher Tmmis buried his wife
Ezra PrIInt as a near neiEhbor. askeU to the
funeral 1.-The cortege viii at 13o O'Clock
~au the printed invitation. and at lis O'Clock
FrIInt's carriage decorously IN place behind
the hearss and the two mourning coaches The
demeanor Of the chemist and the draper toward
each other was a sublime answer to the demands |
Of the occasion; some people even said that the |
breach had been healed. but these were not OF the
discerning.
The most active person at the funeral was the |
cheyuist's only nephew. Give Tmmfs. partner in
small hut prosperous firm OF uajolica manufactur- /
ers at Rursley. Give VINO was seldom seen in /!
TJanh-tdce ma DE q favorable impression on every I
cne IN mis- pleasing, unaffected manner and his !
arr of discretion and success He was a bachelor /
of -hirty-tVvo and iived in lodgings at Bursey. On
the return the funeral party from the cemetery.
Give TImuais found Brunt's daughter Eva in nj.
uncles house Uninvitsd she had left her place In