The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-09-29
BEING NEIGHBoRLY


 "Yes," said Mrs, Masters with deci- sion, fiat life has its drawbacks, and I suppose if one is an easy mark it is found out invariably, but the Masters family have certainly jumped from the frying pan into the fire in moving to suburb to escape neighbors.
 Mrs. Masters city guest looked in- terestedly sympathetic, and Mrs Mas ters was melted thereby to go into par | ticulars.
 Perhaps I've told you of that Bur chim family who lived beneath us in our Greenwood avenue flat, and of the time they sent up to borrow our pet parrot. They were having a reception and wanted the parrot for some reason to show off as their own. Of course sent the parrot down, and of course Polly was strange and alarmed and managed to break a cut-glass fruit bowl, in her frantic plunges to escape. Equally of course the bowl happened to be mine that the Burchims had bor- rowed frequently since they sent up for the first loan a spare cucumber I think it was then. Polly was sick for week and the bowl was never re" placed"
 Mrs Masters stopped to drop a symbolic tear at the shrine of those shattered fragments and then went on
 Those Burchims borrowed every thing they happened to lack and we happened to have, Sometimes we won dered if they ever had anything. They sent up for every foodstuff from salt to sugar. vinegar to syrup, Once the the back stairs to ask if we were go- l ing to have beefsteak for supper. It seems they had smeIled it broiling and they had broiled steak also and un- expected company had arrived just as they were sitting down, and as they didn't have enough they wondered if we wouldn't send down our steak"
 And began her visitor, with up- lifted brows
 My dear" said Mrs Masters, im- pressively mo Masters ever let slip an opportunity of making of him or her. self footstool. Of course we dined off cold ham. That, after all, wasn' much. They have borrowed my sheets in eXlgent contingencies, and also pil- low-cases and handkerchiefs Really, they are awfully good-natured people, but when we learned this spring that they had decided to stay MT. Masters decided we could not. Since we have said for three years that our next move would be to a suburban home, we moved out here into the thick of the fire" Mrs Masters stopped to sigh.
 Tt is good dead worse out here and more excusable" she resumed, for this suburb has only a ridiculous little shop and is so dependent on the city orders, and one does forget lots of things till they are so necessary they be done without moment longer. But we are wondering what the suburb did for lawnmower or a scythe before we came out here. We are running ours now on the circulating library system all but the fines or being overdue. My wash tubs and my boilers are mine no longer. I borrow them back when l l have to have them. Every garden tool that MT. Masters had is all over the place, and it Is so much trouble to hunt them up that we have no garden, though we had planned in our ignor- ance that we would have one. There is only one thing that we have which we said we would have and that thing was in danger this morning.
 Our Jersey COW is our pride. Of course her milk and cream and but ter have been borrowed, but we think the climax was reached this morning when old Sam Morrow came over and looked Into the dlnlng-room window. MT. Masters he said, could I borrow your cows cud, please" Harry looked over at me and threw up his hands and laughed.
 We never say mo- he said. If you can get the cud you're welcome to it.
 It's kind you are, sir, the old fellow said My COW lost her cud this morn ing and it's death to her if she don't get one in it's place"
 That was the one time Masters asserted himself against a neighhor Say, Harry cried, other cows die without 'em, don't they? Suppose you run down to Mir. Rogers and ask him for cud. He's got two cows and can afford to experiment better than we can But he ain't so accommodating as you folks, sir, the old man explained as he shambled off
 Tt really looks as though the worm had found it had an an axis and had begun to turn, but don't know Certainly Miss Bethel, you may have the hammock this evening. It's out there under the trees. Chicago News