The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1904-09-14
A FEUD

DONE" said Mrs. Burnett, and as she
spoke she raped at the small knuc-
kles that were moving toward the
sugar bowl. Morton, aged nine,
jerked his hand out of the way and
laughed at his mother, who pursed
up her lips to conceal smile.
Don't do that, Norton" said
Mr. Burnett. Then, turning to his
wife, he asked, "What have they
been doing now ?"
"That boy and some more of his
crowd put tin cans along the top of
the fence and then threw at them to
knock them off About every other
stone went over the top of the fence
and went sailing across our back
yard. II ono of them had struck
anybody he wouldn't have known
what hurt him."
The Deakins lived next door, and
although there was a dividing fence
it had not kept the two families
apart.
In the year during which the two
households had dwelt side by side
there had been a growing enmity.
Yet Mrs Burnett had never spoken
9 word to Mrs. Deakin, and her hus-
band knew nothing of Mr. Deakin
except that he worked with h 3
hands for living and spent great
many evenings at home.
There were two Deakin children
Lawrence, or Larry, aged ten, and
little Willie, who at the tender age
of three had learned to regard the
Burnett tribe with scorn and hatred
and suffer to some degree under the
indignities heaped upon his family
by that arch tend of juvenility,
Morton Burnett.
For when the Deakins sat around
the supper table and cast up the ac-
counts of the day it was Larry who
posed as the prosecuted and abused
child, while Morton Burnett was
pictured az an infant Of dark in
tents. headed straight for the BRIDE
well.
"If | WAS a man, Tom Deakin,"
said the wife, "I'il warrant you I'd
go over to that house and give no.
tice that things are simply going too
far To-day that boy got up on the
fence and called Lawrence all kinds
OF names"
''He said that his mother had said
that ma didn't have clothes fit to
wear" suggested Lawrence, who
had begun to breathe hard during
the recital Of his grievances.
Anyway, l don't try to make
myself look like peacock every
time / start to church." said Mrs.
Deakin.
This comparison of Mrs. Burnett
TO a peacock tickled the children,
and they laughed immediately.
Tom Deakin restrained them with a
quiet Gut tut" and said that the
proper way to get along was to pay
no attention to the neighbors.
"I'd like to know how you can
help it," said his wife. "That boy is
up to some mischief every hour Of
the day, and his mother seems to
encourage him in everything he
does. He throws things over into
our yard, teases Willie and makes
faces at him"
"Next time | see him pick on Viii
lie III give him another licking"
suggested Larry.
you'll do nothing Of the kind"
exclaimed his mother. Don't you
remember the talking to l gave you
the other time you had that fight
with him ?"
Lawrence remembered the mild
rebuke, and his inward resolution
was not changed. Tom Deakin went
for his pipe, oppressed with the
thought that he had been very un-
lucky in his selection Of neighbors.
These complaints had come to
him day after day from the down
trodden members Of his family.
The feud had grown from a thou
sand aggrsvating circumstances.
Suppose Morton Burnett to be on
the fence. His mother would open
the back door and say loudly enough
to make herself heard through the
open windows Of the Deakin house:
"Morty. get down from that fence
Haven't told you about that?"
Mrs. Deakin would hear and I'M
derstand. Then she would wait her
opportunity to appear on the back
stoop and retaiate.
In summer time, when both wom-
en- were out of doors much of the
time, they occasionally exchanged
chances which were more significant
than anything they could have said.
When Mrs. Burnett put out her
washing she knew that Mrs. Deakin
was watching her and counting the
number of pillow slips and table
cloths.
When Mrs. Burnett came to the
back door and called out, "Come,
Alice, dear, and practice your mu
sic lesson" it was equivalent to say
ing to Mrs. Deakin, "Aha, we have
a cottage organ in our house. but
you haven't any in yours"
Mrs. Deakin has frequently in
formed Tom that the Burnett organ
was a cheap secondhand thing.
One day when Mrs, Deakin came
home from a funeral in a covered
carriage there was CONSERVATION in
the Burnett family, and accounts
we're not fairly balanced until a new
coat Of paint was put on the Bur
nett house.
The Deakin children told the
Burnett children all that their
mother had said about the probable
character Of Mrs. Burnett. Likewise
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