The Cairo bulletin., 1906-12-09
IN STORKVILLE
CENTRE
How Mr.. Blink Cot 4, 900 Bricks
for Nothing


ert Blink. Not but what bricks are lC
be had in plenty in that locality, for
] there Is a fine pit of brick clay in the
neighborhood, but stone is cheaper
"And so when Robert Blink built
this house with above ground foundN
| ton walls OF brick, why, naturally
those brick supporting walls We're con
| sidered remarkable: but the walls
| themselves were not nearly so remark
able as the manner in which the bricks
contained in them were obtained, with
| the incidental fact that Mr., Blink got
his bricks for nothing 1t was like
this:
"Mr. Blink, as it happened, lived a
little out of the center on a road to the
brick kilns, and right back of his
place, on another parallel road, there
was a row of cottages occupied by men
who worked in the brick yard,
Nov Blink had cats, and 1t was not
long after he came there before his
cats became great annoyance 10 his
brickmaker neighbOrs in the rear The
cats would come ont into BlinXs
back yard and garden nights
and howl and yowl fiightful'
ly and disturb the brickmen's
sleep Pretty soon, as people DO every
where at other peoples cats the brick
makers began throwing things at
Blinx's-bootjack and old shoes and
the usual things like that with the
usual ineffective results, until finally
one night just by the merest chance
one of the men picked up and threw
at the worst of the cats brick which
landed fair and square on it's mark
After that they threw many bricks
which rarely hit what they were aimed
at, but which did tear mp MIR. Blinxs
back yard and garden something scan
dalous. And then the throwing of the
bricks suggested to Mr. Blink an iden
He had quite a piece along there
on his road and pretty good land, hut
the house on it was old, and not much
of a house anyway, and Mr., Blink came
to think about building new one. And
he was a thrifty man, always SAVING
where he could, and when those bricks
began to come over he had an idea.
How much less would it cost him
he asked a mason, to have the founda
ton of his new house built If he
Blink, furnished the material for The
part above ground; and the mason
said matter of $35 or $40, aud So
Blink set about collecting the bricks
thrown at his cats to provide that ma
terial; the mason having told him
when Blink had casually mentioned
bricks to him one day that If he built
Of that material his top foundation
walls would require about 4,0DG
bricks.
"At the average at which they had
been coming over nights for the pre-
vious two or three weeks, Mr. Bins
figured that it would take him about a
year to collect that number in thia
way and in that time the bricks |
thrown might do considerable damage
in his yard and garden and SO he
thought he'd put up little protection
for them. AS it was there was just a |
post and rail fence running along the |
rear of Mr.. BlinX's property between |
that and the brick mems yards, and
now he put mp, at the foot of his yard |
and garden plot a six foot board fence /
setting it back about six feet so that |
when the bricks struck it they would |
fan on his own land
"All cats, everywhere, like TO walk |
on the tops Of fences and all cats |
seem to welcome meeting other cats
there as an amply sufficient provoca
tion for clawng and splitting, fighting /
and bowling; and no sooner had Mr.
Blink got his fence mp than all the
cats in Storkville Center. apparently |
came nights to walk on II; and what
had seemed the frightful bowling OF
Blinx's cats seemed now to the sounds
produced by this new band of cats as
but the feeble tuning up Of few scat.
ering members of an orchestra to the
gale that breaks loose when the whole
outfit gets going.
THE brick men were stirred ac,
'biullNiN dHu uiSUl dlitI nlEnl WNpD
hey came home from work thcy
brought yalises and carpet bags fun
If bricks; and when the cats started
~ they did With the first squali Of a
AT you'd hear brick land against the
BOARD fence and when the cats got
going -why, humph' I've heard what
iome people thought was quite some
'acket in back Yards here in the city.
when cats were caterwauling and Doo.
lie were firing revolvers out Of the
windows 10 scare 'em off and throwing
'arious odds and ends at 'em that clat
cred more or less. but all that would
ie child's play 10 what you could hear
mt in this quiet country place when
he bricks were numbering on Blinx's
.oard fence and 30 cats on top Of It
we're wail'ng and screeching and
Dreaming above the uproar.
"All this was music TO Blink. WHY.
q told me that on a number OF morn. ,
lgs-he used to get up early to carry
way the bricks before people around
OF UPON a number OF mornings he
arried away five wheelbarrow loads Of
ricks. and one morning he got scycn