Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-03

MERE were TWO req houses In
Acraman's road which Shout
dered each other confidentially
and seemed on such manifestly ar
fectionate terms that the notion of
their respective inhabitants being
anything but bosom friends was sim
ply ridiculous.
The thought struck DollabeIia Pow
ney quite forcibly when she bought
one OF these said houses, and made
her more eager than was her wont
(she was not curious by nature) to
catch a glimpse of her next door
neighbor. Oddly enough, it was quite
a fortnight after she had moved in
before she did so, and then the man
ner of her Catching" was sadly at
variance with her customary tradi-
tions of dignity
Consumed one May evening with a
desire to know something of that
neighbours tastes and habits, she rose
on an inverted blaelSing box which
she had placed against her garden
wall to take furtive peep at the
adjacent premises. The neighbor,
curiously enough. chose that precise
spot and moment for similar ma
neuver. Result, their noses all but
met. The neighbor said afterward
that he was training a creeper but
the denouement was. in any case, alb
surd. Dollabella shrieked.
Her backing box turned turtle at
the start she gave, and she nearly
sprained an ankle as she fell plump
into group of peonies. With a
countenarfce the color of those fam
boyant blossoms, and tears of morti-
fication in her eyes, she scrambled up
and went majestically indoors, bang
ing the front door to ease her feel
ings. The neighbor-such is the de-
pravity of man-laughed. After that
there was only one course open to
Dollabella-the next-door neighbor
must be ignored-sent to Coventry
ostracized-
1t was two months later, and the
sultry glory Of a July evening took
the Guiding Cottagers"-as they
were irreverently called--into an al
most tropical embrace. Miss Powney
was very busy--a garden hose in one
manu- dAAO a llLllC nAHCh NOluIIlG, WITH
white whirligig on its cover, in the
other She appeared, between bouts
Of watering, to be committing some
thing to memory.
The next door man was on ladder.
He was chronically on ladders. Dol
labella had consulted her lawyer
brother as to the possibility Of a
single woman getting an injunction
against people who perpetually
mounted heights and, under a pre-
text of pruning, commanded other
peoples domains. Moreover, he was
whistling, and his whistling got upon
Dollabella's nerves. Whenever she
looked up she could see his straw
hat and a pair of big brown hands
busy among the young branches of a
mulberry tree-and the sight annoyed
her.
Fractures" said Dollabella to her
self, as she hosed a thirsty looking
clump Of carnations, are of six kinds:
simple - compound - convex con-
cave (no, that sounds nonsense)-
wait a minute"
She threw back her head and looked
to the sky for Inspiration.
"Wheou-whe-ou, went the man
next door.
"Simple-compound - implicated
ocntex-ah!"
"Slither-scrape- crash-plomb!"
Good heavensl" cried Dollabella,
and the little black book with the
white whirligig fell from her nerve
shaken hand TO the ground.
A Crash.
Something had happened next door
something which included a splin-
tering sound and the too sudden con-
tact of a heavy body with Mother
Earth.
The whistling had ceased abruptly
in the middle of bar; there was no
longer any sign of a straw hat and
clipping hands.
Dollabella, listening In cold hor-
ror, heard two or three groans, and
then there was a CHASTITY silence.
Her heart thumped bard against
her ribs--her breath came In little
uncomfortable gRgps.
It's an accident of some sort"
she said addressing the flower bor-
ders. Now, what ought l to do?"
The hollyhocks and sweet williams
having no views on the subject she
did what common sense prompted.
The gardener, who came once a week
to NOW the grass and titivate the
garden generally, had left a pair OF
short steps close at hand. She fetched
them and placed them against the
wall, and climbed to the top.
She was almost afraid to look, but
common sense gave her another prod,
and look she did; and, in looking
beheld a prone igu1 which lay on
its back, presenting a very white
upturned face to the summer sky.
By it's side, also prone, was a
broken ladder
At first she really thought that the
whistling man next door was dead.
Her heart seemed to turn a somer-
sault and TO stop before II got over.
She scrambled down into his garde 4,
dropping bang on to a choice lilium-
ii IA tntrnn III, The rrrnaEc I'D hiar-il 4