Smyrna times., 1912-08-14
A NEW
TIN PAN
Copyright, 1912, by Associated Lit
erary Press.
By M. QUAD

1t was a beautiful June forenoon
when a tin peddler approached the viii
lage of Harrison.
He stopped his rig at the first house.
The house belonged to Deacon Rush.
On the back steps, seated side by side,
were the deacOn's wife and her nearest
neighbor and best friend-Mrs. Burt.
''Tinware, ladies'? ?" he asked. EVERY
thing new and bright. Finest milk pan
in the country for only 10 cents"
"I've always paid Is cents for milk
pans" replied the deacOn's wife.
Yes, and I've sold 'em as high as Is,
but they have got new way Of max
ing 'em, and I'm giving you the benefit
of it. I'll bring one in"
The pan arrived, new and shiny,
and stood all the tests it was put to.
No leaks, and it would almost serve as
a mirror. A dime was borrowed to pay
for it, and after a little more talk 1t
was left on the steps while its owner
made a call at another house and the
deacOn's wife entered her own to make
up the bed that had been airing.
Now came the COW. She belonged to
a man at the other end of the village.
There was grass in plenty. but she
lOnged for garden truck. She leaped
the back fence and helped herself. In
her stepping about she approached the
kitchen door and saw that new pan.
She saw the reflection of her face
and became astOnished and indignant.
A crop cared, one horned critter gazed
at her in a defiant manner, and as she
was a bovine that had never taken a
bluff she bumped up her back and
sailed in.
An hour later Mrs. Burt came back
after her pan, and her first yell
brought the deacon's wife out of the
house. There lay the once shapely
and shiny pan in the dirt. trodden as
fat as a pancake. 1t might do to stop
q hog hole in the back fence, but no
artisan could never mold it into pan.
LANDS alive" exclaimed Mrs. Burt
''Mercy on mew exclaimed Mrs. Rush.
''That COW did it!'
''She must havew
sand you let herr
"Sarah Bu.t. don't you say anything
Ike that to me! I didn't know there
was a COW in the garden"
"But you ought to have known. If
you'd keep your fences like other folks
the COWS couldn't get in. Look at that
pan that cost me 10 cents an hour
agOw
WAS 1 to sit out here and watch
itT' protested the deacOns wife.
"You ought to have heard the cow
when she was trOmping it."
You ought to have taken it home
or carried it along with you"
That's nothing to do with it. 1t
was left here, and it's destroyed, and
I'll be switched if ever pay you the
10 centsv'
"If you don't I'll sue your
"You dasn't?'
There it was, you see-the first real
quarrel between neighbOrs the village
had had in many long years. The
happy minded peddler and the fighting
COW disappeared from the scene, bu
the quarrel remained. 1t did more thar
that. The news spread and within tive
hours Mrs. Henderson was saying:
Mrs. Burt shouldn't try to lay th'
blame off on Mrs. Rush. When a wo
mans busy making a bed she ain
thinking Of cows. l hope Mrs. Rusl
sues for the 10 cents"
And in the house right across tht
street Mrs. Holiday was saying:
~ ho- 10
her! When a new 10 cent milk pal
is left on my back steps by a neighbO
it's my duty as a Christian woman t
go out there every few minutes ant
see that it's all right l shall certain
ly advise Mrs. Burt not to pay tn
10 cents"
By the next day the village wa
about equally divided on the question
/ though some few were inclined to blam
neither the peddler nor COW. 1t was a
talk for a day or two, and then cam
action. The factions no longer boz
rowed nor lent. They bowed stiftiy t
each other or not at all on the stree
They revived gossip that had bee
dead fifteen years and rolled 1t unde
their tongues. Carried into the churcl
es? OF course it was. When a thin
4 ike that gets started in villae
there's no telling where it will end.
j drew the elders and deacOns and tw
ministers in, and it made the atten'
ance at sermons and prayer meeting
. mighty SLIM To all peacemakers tn
deacon's wife would reply:
n 4 4
81 wasn't set here on this earth
look out for other folks milk pans, an
TEST won't do it,
And the reply of Mrs. Burt would b.
"She ought to have known about Il
COW. and I'll never pay that 10 cents
It was a quarrel and division thi
lasted FIVE years and might have goi
on for another five but for providen'
taking a hand in the game.
tramp who had the measles head'
that way, and ne simply handed t.
- town an epidemic. Not a score
people were spared. While none die
aIl went to bed to be dOctOred and
do a heap Of thinking, and the resi-
~ - .ho4 ae foet as they could cra7