Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1910-09-22
per week until sold"

>o"''N " ""S aOohSs WI ~ VII
as he appeared harmless The people
would only laugh at him. The first
n to lake a discovery was Il Mr..
Graham. He was an old man, AND he
had an old wife. They We're always
Wrangliny. more or less. When they
had w%rangled about so long each time
he would box her ears. Two days aft
er' the Conservatory" had been estab-
lished and us the old couple sat Oh the
piazza of their house a wrangle took
place. After Il bit the husband looked
around, and. seeing no one passing,
he administered il cuff. A moment
later he happened to look up on the
hill and saw that the telescope was
trained upon him. If there was any
doubt that Mr.. Bushwick had seen that
cuff inflicted it was .dispelled by the
waving of Il small white flag.
Elder Thompson was a good man, a
very good man. as all elders should be
and are. lie was sitting in his back
yard under an apple tree. thinking
how good and peaceful and nice it
was to be real good. when a humble
bee came along and lifted him once
for his mothers sake. After coming
down from his high jump the elder
broke down u young cherry tree. tore
down a panel of the fence and ran his
dog into the house. 1t was no more
than d good man should do, but when
he looked up and saw that accusing
telescope and white flag he felt hurt
and conscience stricken.
A dozen other things of the kind
happened during the first week. and
then the citizens decided that an OBJ
servatory was unlawful. They con-
suited a lawyer. and he smiled at them.
He told them the town could be sur
rounded by observatories and not con-
fict with any law. Then it was
thought best to make up a shake purse
and buy Mr.. Bushwick out.
Gentlemen" saidsdhe telescope man
when they dpproachedThfm: of the sub
jecf, ''the price Of this property is
$500. Take7i it or leave it, @
"But you have no right to be spying
on our homes" was retorted. -
"T~herefis ne spying: 1 am simply
surveying the earth before me. II i
Of you happen to come within my
range Of vision 1 cannot help it. do
not think l shall write a book on what
I see. 1 may. but do not think So"
The citizens refused to pay the sum
named and went down the hill to their
homes, while Mr.. Bushwick returned
to his post and his telescope. One Of
the residents of the village was an old
maid named Miss Saunderson. She
had a home of her own. She was fond
of strolling In her garden. A Mr.. Bios
son.. who liveG next door, was fond Of
leaning owe the line fence and quot
ing poetry to her. His wife had warn
ed him to stop it or she would quote
something to him, but on a certain aft
ernoon he forgot the warning and was
repeating ''Sheridan's Ride to Miss
Saunderson when there came a wife.
a club and a cataclysm. The telescope
took it all in. The white flag waved
joyously. Dozens Of people saw it
W and went hunting for the cause,
and there was some more to talk
about. Two or three days later a COM
mittee climbed the hill with $500 in its
hind pocket and told Mr.. Bushwick to
take it and get out
Gentlemen. l am sorry if you have
been put to any trouble" he kindly re-
piled. "but the figure on the property
Is 5000. You see. a sort Of real estate
boom has set in"
The committee hemmed and hawed
and refused to pay. Two days after
that the report spread that the observ-
atory man was going to have a night
as well as a day glass-a glass that
would almost see through a pine door.
Then there was a hustle. Three men
took up the task Of collecting. Oh, no;
they were not afraid Of the day glass
or the night glass or any other kind
of glass. but 1t would be a great i'm
provement to the landscape to remove
the house on the hill and set out some
pine trees there. When they went up
to see Mr. Bushwick again he wanted
$T0o. bur. seeing 1t was they and see
tng they wanted TO better the land.