Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1912-08-12
A NEW
TIN PAN
By M. QUAD
Copyright. 1912. by Associated Lit
erary Press.
By M QUAD

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, ladlesr he asked. Every
thing new and bright Finest milk pan
in the country for only 10 cents"
1--WE always paid 10 cents for milk
pans" replied the deacons 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 1t would almost serve as
a mirror. A dime was borrowed to pay
for it, and after little more talk It
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
har-inn hot hah fol n
| 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
a hog hole in the back fence. but no
artisan could never mold it into a pan.
Lands alivew exclaimed Mrs. Burt
"Mercy On mer exclaimed Mrs. Rush.
"That COW did itP'
"She must havew
"And you let herr
Sarah Burt. don't you say anything
Ike that to me! | didn't know there
was COW in the garden
But you ought to have known. II
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
agoT
was I to sit out here and watch
it?' protested the deacon's wife.
you ought to have heard the COW
when she was tromping it"
'You ought to have taken 1t 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 l ever pay you the
| 10 centsv'
"lf you don't I'll sue your
You dasn'ty'
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. but
I the quarrel remained. 1t did more than
that The news spread and within two
/ hours Mrs. Henderson was saying:
Mrs Burt shouldn't try to lay the
blame of on Mrs. Rush. When a wo-
mans busy making a bed she amt
/ thinking of cows. l hope Mrs. Rush
sues for the 10 cents"
And in the house right across the
street Mrs. Holiday was saying:
I'D let her sue and be hanged to
! 49,
is left on my back steps by a neighbor
| it's my duty as a Christian woman to
go out there every few minutes and
see that it's all right. I shall certain
ly advise Mrs. Burt not to pay the
/ 10 cents"
BY the next day the village was
about equally divided on the question.
| though some few were inclined to blame
neither the pedder nor COW. 1t was all
/ talk for day or two. and then came
( action. The factions no longer bor-
/ rowed nor lent. They bowed stiffly TO
| each other or not at all on the street.
! They revived gossip that had been
/ dead fifteen years and rolled it under
| their tongues. Carried into the church
/ es? OF course 1t was. When thing
| like that gets started in a village
/ there's no telling where it viii end. It
drew the elders and deacsns and two
ministers in. aE6 il n5.ls sEe attend
| ance at sermons and prayer meetings
mighty slim. To all peacemakers the
deacon's wife would reply:
II wasn't set here on this earth to
look out for other folks milk pans, and
! Jest won't do itr'
And the reply Of Mrs. Burt would be:
"She ought to have-k -kn55n about the
COW, and III never pay tia - centsr'
| 1t was a quarrel and a div.s,Us that
lasted five years and might have zone
on for another five but for providence
taking a hand in the game. A
tramp who had the measles headed
that way, and he simply handed the
town an epidemic Not a score of
people were spared. While none died.
all went to bed to be doctored and to
do heap of thinking. and the result
! was that as fast as they could crawl
| out they eased their conscieuces by
confessing their errors anG asic;ng for
forgiveness.
Here is the 10 cents" said Mrs.
! Burt as she tottered over to the dea-