The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-12-24
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8 A Christmas Accident. E
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OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

dllke as the TWO GcHSeS. eACh mouse
being the exact copy Of the other.
They were just two of those little red
brick dwellings that one is always see
ing side by side in the outskirts of
city, and looking as if the occupants
must be alike too. But these two fam
lilies were quite different. Mr.. Clifton,
who lived I'm one. was pretty cross
sort of man, and was quite well-to-do,
as cross people sometimes are. He
and his wife lived alone, and they did
not have much going out and coming
in, either. Mrs. Clifton would have
liked more of it, but she had
given ii up for her husband had
said so many times that it was wom-
ems tomfoolery to want to have peo
pie, whom you weren't anything to
and who weren't anything to you,
ringing your doorbell all the time and
bothering around in your dining
room.-which of course it was; and
she would have believed it if womai
ever did believe anything a man says
q great many times.
In the other house there were five
children, and, as Mr.. Clifton said, they
made too large family, and they
ought to have gone somewhere else.
Possibly they would have gone had il
not been for the fence; but when Mr..
Clifton put it up and Mr. Billion told
him it was three inches too far on his
land, and Mr.. Clifton said he could
go to law about 1t. expressing the
idea forcibly, Mr.. Billion was foolish
enough TO take his advice. The decis-
ion went against him, and good
deal of his money went with it, for it
was long, teasing lawsuit, and in
stead of being three inches of made
ground it might have been three de-
l. to 10, fNY.f h fro
BILE there was IN getting at 1T. So Mr..
Billion had to stay where he was
II was then that the yards began
to take on those little differences that
soon grew to be very marked. Neith-
err family would plant any vines be-
cause they would have been certain
to heedlessly beautify the other side,
and consequently the fence, in all its
primitive holiness, stood out uncom-
promisingly, and the one or two little
bits of trees grew carefully on the
farther side of the enclosure SO as not
to be mixed up in the trouble at all.
But Mr.. Gilton's grass was cut
smoothly by the man who made the
fires, while Mr.. Billion only found
chance to cut his himself once in two
weeks. Then, by and by, Mr.. Clifton
bought a red garden bench and put
IL under the tree that was nearest
to the fence. No one ever went out
and sat on it. to be sure, but to the
Billion children it represented the Wis
ible flush of prosperity. Particularly
was Cora Cordelia wont to peer
THROUGH the fence and gaze upon
that red bench, thinking it a charm
ing place i'm which to play house, ig-
norant of the fact that much of the
red paint would have come off on
her back. Cora Cordelia was the
youngest of the five. All the rest had
very simple names,-John, waiter,
Fanny and Susan,-but when it came
to Cora Cordelia, luxuries were begin
ming to get very scarce in the Bllton
family, and Mrs. Billion felt that she
must make up for it by being LAVISH,
an one direction or another. she
had wished to name Fanny, Cora, and
Susan, Cordelia, but she had yielded
to her husband, and called one after
his mother and one after herself, ana
then gave both her favorlte names 10
the Youngest of ALL Cora Cordelia was
a pretty little girl prettier even than
both her names put together.
After the red bench came a quick
silver ball, that was put in the mid
die of the yard and reflected all the
glory of its owner, albeit in a some
what distorted form. This effort OF
human ingenuity filled the Billion
children with admiration bordering on
awe; Cora Cordelia spent hours gaZ-
ing at it, until called in and reproved
by her mother for admiring so much
things she could not afford to have
After this, she only admired it COW
ertly.
Small distinctions like these barbed
the arrows of contrast and comparl-
son and kept the disadvantages OF
IL HI ,.la mr.
Then, it was q constant annoyance
to have their surnameS so much alike.
Matters were made more unpleasant
by mistakes of the butcher, the gro
GER and so on,-Gilton, 70 Holmes
Avenue. was so much like Billion, II
Holmes Avenue. Clifton changed his
butcher every time he sent his dinner
to Billion; and though the mistakes
were generally rectified. neither OF the
two families ever forgot the time the
Billions ate, positively ate, the Clifton
dinner. under a misrepresentation. Mrs
Billion apologized, and Mrs. Clifton
boldly told her husband that she was
glad they'd had it, and she hoped
they'd enjoy it, which only made mat
tiers worse; and altogether it was
dark day, the only joy of it being that
fearful one snatched by John, Walter.
Susan, Fanny, and Cora Cordelia from
the undoubted excellence of the roast
OF course there was an assortment
of minor difficulties. The smoke from
the Billions kitchen blew in through
the windows of the Giltons' sitting
room when the wind was in one d.
rection, and, when it was in. the 9TH
er, many of the clothes from the Gill
tons clothes line We're blown into
the Billions yards, and Fanny, Susan,
or Cora Cordelia had to be sent out
to pick them up and drop them over
the fence again. which Mrs. Billion
said was very wearing, as of course
it must have been. Things like this
were always happening, but matters
reached a climax when it came to the
dog. 1t wasn't a large dog, but 1t
was a tiresome one. 1t got up early
in the morning and barked. Now we
all know that early rising is a good
thing and honorable among all men,
but it is something that ought to be
done quietly, out of regard to the
weaker vessels; and a dog that barks
between five and seven in the morn
ing, continuously, certainly ought to
be suppressed, even if it be neces-
sary to use force. Everybody agreed
with the Billions about that,-every-
body except the Giltons then kelves,
who, by some one of natures freaks,
didn't mind it. Mrs Billion often said
l. -