The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-05-20
THE CATHOLIC BULLETIN, MAY 20, 1911
N THE
House of Reconciliation

The old Perkins house on the hill
was rented at last. 1t was certainly
misnomer to call it by that name, for
the original Perkins was dead more
than forty years, and had left no child
to continue in unbroken succession,
as the historical hand-books elegantly
lsay, his wealthy but plebian lineage.
He was the last of his family, and
mighty poor family it was, OF close
listed, tyrannical, ambitious, money
grabbers. The noble line Of anti
spenders of the Perkins dynasty Hour
ished, eliminated and ended with the
most typical Perkins of them all,
Samuel Perkins, Esquire, whose de-
mise, as having happily occurred some
forty years ago, I have succinctly
chronicled above. Where he got his
money, how he got his money, and
from whom he got his money 1t is
not my business uncharitably to in
form you. Any ancient settler OF the
town will tell you all that with more
due regard to pleasant details than l
could respectfully descend to. The one
thing I will say is that he did get
plenty of it, and held on to that same
plenty. And for that very tenacity OF
purpose he lived unloved and died
unmourned, and can conceive of
nothing more tragic than that in the
life of any one man.
I daresay he had intended to love
and to be married finally, but the
slack in business was never long
enough to allow that, and SO when he
died without having made will 1T is
safe to assert that he turned in his
grave many times when all the care
fully guarded Perkins coins slipped
into the pockets of Samuels scapegoat
cousin, presumed to be dead, but de-
votedly returning shortly after the
obsequies to prove his claim, and then
| leaving for parts unknown to enjoy
his dear cousins generosity. He
never slept night in the Perkins
house; evidently he feared the return
of Samuel to register protest. But
as soon as the proprieties of fashion
able mourning would allow he sold
| the whole estate to one of his dead
cousins avowed enemies. I am not
going to make this history the mere
registry of deeds, denoting the various
transfers of the property. They were,
like the proverbial wedding gifts, nu-
merous and costly. Yet nobody pros
pered in the place, hence nobody liked
it. Very versatile it had been, now
as family dwelling, now as board
| ing-house, now as a sanatorium for
recovering inebriates, and finally, in
the character it affected most, as big
ghost of an empty mansion that looked
scornfully down from the hill upon
the very prosiac three-decked fiat
houses of unitarian present.
Now I fear that I have said a bit
too much about Samuel Perkins, more
than the proper proportion of short
story will allow, but my reason for so
acting, and [ feel perfectly justified,
is to show you the peculiar freak of
fortune, or misfortune, in this that the
latest occupant of the house was also
known by the name of Perkins.
Strange fate, indeed, for that poor old
house after the lapse of nearly half
century. But this new Perkins was
not a Samuel Perkins. In fact, there
was no man in the family, simply a
Mrs. Mary Perkins, her ten-year-old
daughter Cecilia and a middle-aged
servant woman, whom | may fifty and
finally describe as ever making a
| i - 4, II, rrsrr
in her notice if she were obliged to
take care of that big barracks of a
house unaided.
Why Mrs. May Perkins had come to
the big house, and she a widow with
only one child and one servant, was
long the sole consideration of the femi
nine contingent of the town. All sorts
of reasons were advanced, and it was
commonly and conclusively agreed thai
in a very short time freshly painted
sign-board, advertising Board and
Rooms" would be swinging and creak
ing over the entrance to the Perkins
mansion But in reality there was
little mystery about her coming tt
that particular house. When she had
come from those parts which were un
known to her new neighbors she had
remained while in Boston, making
investigations for a desirable house in
the suburbs, and the real estate dealer
upon hearing her name, told her OF
the strange coincidence of having had
the Perkins house put into his hands
that very day. That aroused her WON
anly curiosity, and she expressed g
wish to see the place, and, seeing it
she at once fell in love with it an6
leased it for year, and moved into
it as soon as the furnishers to whom
she had given carte blanche had done
it up as extensively as it would per
NIT. And so, although I said it was g
misnomer to call it the Perkins house
during that half century, it was
solely because it retained that name
through all the various assaults oil