The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1908-05-21

Il dlun propose II. S3l1 1eIeklal.
"but | always stand by what Agatha
says | must. and | will now"
At this remark Hiram Hankins felt
his heart leap within him as Agatha
gave him one of her most approving
glances, and their carriage drove away.
All that evening. while the two were
doing the chores, Hiram labored with
his father in behalf of the water
trough. 1t was JOY to both of the
young people when the next day Farm
er Hawkins allowed that he guessed
they might go ahead with the laying
of their pipe line. The water trough
was duly installed in the barnyard. and
the faucet was attached. Then. when
everything was in readiness, on a Ger
tain day the water from the spring
was let into the main. 1t leaped into
the pipe and went rushing down to
give joy to the townspeopie, but not
a single drop of water came through
the half inch pipe which rose up from
the main pipe five feet below to the
trough in Farmer HankinS' barnyard.
Farmer HankinS then knew ii was
conspiracy against him and the town
officials never meant to do as they had
| agreed. Hezekiah Banks always was
rascal, and he might have known bet
ter than to trust him. But at the
same time it was just as much of
puzzle to the water commissioner as to
Farmer HauEins himself why the wa
ter went so ScorHfully past the water
trough He went all over the line him
self, peering into the faucet and listen
ing with his ear close to its mouth in
the vain effort to solve the problem.
Then. to satisfy himself that the work
of laying the pipe and making the con
nections had been properly done. he
ordered that the earth all be dug away
and the pipe thoroughly examined.
Everything was found to be right and
no defect anywhere.
| Finally an engineer from the neigh
boring city was engaged, and after
very carefully examining the line he
decided that, the spring being so much
| higher than the trough. the water came
| through the main pipe with such ire
mendous force that 1t had no time to
stop at Farmer Hankins farm. Some
We're so skeptical as to this mans iudg
ment, however. that another engineer
of still higher repute was summoned.
His verdict was that the spring, in
/ stead of being higher than the trough.
was, in fact, much lower; therefore
there was not enough force from the
| spring to push the water up through
! the faucet.
Now it's my turn to see what the
| law II do" said Farmer Hankins.
"They promised me water. and they've
| got to furnish it."
Some one reminded the old farmer
| that the commissioner had only agreed
to furnish the trough and the faucet
| and that the supplying of the water
/ was not in the contract 1t was a very
| perpIeXing situation The town must
either be deprived of water or the
trough must be supplied with it, and
Farmer Hankins brought suit against
the town officials. And now Hiram
and Agatha were in trouble again.
What would become of their hopes
and prospects for the future if mat
tiers went on like this?
81 know there must certainly be
some way to get water into that
trough Agatha declared. IF | had
half the knowledge some folks think
, they have it seems to me could fix it"
Agatha suddenly developed decid-
ed taste for studying water in its rela-
ton to supplying cities and towns
through the medium of the gravity
system. When all others would be
sound asleep she would be porting over
books bearing on the subject which
she borrowed from the city library
Then she made numerous visits to the
spring. She measured the distance be
| tween the spring and another, larger
farther up in the village. on the hill
side, as accurately as she could with
her eye.
Still further to complicate matters
Farmer Hankins forbade his son Hi
ram from ever visiting Agatha again.
I'VE will have nothin to do with
them" he said. They're bad lot. |
don't know as | really ever heard of
anything that HeZekiah Banks had
done before this, and | used to think
I'd like well enough to have Agatha
for a daughter. but this things enough
to convince me that you never would
have minutes peace if you married
her-a chip of the old block"
Hezekiah in the meantime declared
that Hiram never must darken his
doorstep again. Good enough fellow,
but what's bred in the bone will surely
tell"
So matters remained thus for several
weeks until ii was almost time for the
trial of Farmer Hankins' suit. On the
night before the day of the trial Farm
er HankinS was very restless and
could get no sleep. He had always
boosted that he never sued a man or
had been sued in his life. but now the
record was to be broken. While toss
ing on his pillow shortly after the
clock had struck II he heard very
peculiar noise that seemed to be near
the house. upon the hillside The Of
tener lie heard it the more mystiicd