The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1913-01-16
THE SUTTONS' HOUSE
BY I. MCDONALD.

i StlIl lnSlSt, SAID the woman VINO
was doing the talking, that l was
quite within my rights. My husband,
however, is firm in the conviction that
] fatally ruined my reputation for
good breeding. secretly think that he
believes me now beyond the pale! He
is still at the point where he sputters
whenever l allude to the subject!
"Of course, l would not go around
looking into peoples windows in
town. When a person builds a house
in town you know it's his castle and
you haven't any right on the premises
without an invitation, but when he
builds one in the country it is a posi-
tive bid for inspection!
why, a new red barn is a subject
for dinner table conversation for miles
around in the country and a house is
positive godsend, because every
body can explain at length why he
doesn't like it.
THE Suttons began building their
house out near the golf links early in
the spring and as it was merely across
the road from the eighth hole it was
quite the thing from the start to take
recess at that point and cut across
the road and survey the hole in the
ground that was going to be the SUIT
tons cellar eventually. All of US de-
clared every time We looked at it that
the hole was either too big, too small,
too shallow or too deep and nothing
could induce us to have q cellar like
it. When the workmen began putting
in the foundations it was even more
exciting, because there are so many
kinds Of foundations. Nobody who
looked at the Suttons' foundations
approved of them.
I'VE all gurgled with Joy when the
uprights marking off the partitions
were up and we could see where the
rooms were to be. According to va
rious golf players who dropped over
there in one morning the living room
was farce. the dining room a crime,
the hall joke and the bedrooms a
fright. Most people said the house
should have faced east instead Of
west, though there were a few in fa-
vor of southern view and some
voted for the north, which gave one
a view OF the railway line and let
one keep track of the trains that went
past
The walls started in cobblestones
and that revived tagging interest II
some one wasn't telling about a cab
blestone house he knew of that fell
down at the first puff of wind some
one else was explaining how banal
and inartistic cobblestones were now
that they had grown so common. That
the second story was half timbered
only famed the flame. Everybody
who sat around on the terrace to cool
off after a game got all heated up
again expostulating against the half
timbered style.
! THE Suttons' house, in short, was
not building; it was an institution
without which the golf club would
have fallen fat 1t made it all the
more comfortable that the Suttons
were in Europe and the house was
helpless.
when the Fielding girls came out
to spend the day at the club with me
what was more natural than that l
should take them over to see the SUIT
tons house? l thought they would
enjoy gloating over its deficiencies
+ We tried the front door. but It was
fastened and so was that at the
back. Evidently the carpenters had
finished their work and left
Anyhow, l told the Fielding girls,
1 want you to get a glimpse of the
inside. You never saw the like!'
$50 We strolled around to the side
and l got box and stood on tiptoe
and flattened my face against the liv-
ing room window
Il found myself looking straight
into the interested eyes of a perfectly
strange man who seemed very much
at home in a wicker chair beside a
big table heaped with magazines and
books and flowers and surrounded by
furniture! If you have never peeked
into a room in house that did not
belong to you and found the owner
regarding you meditatively you cannot
understand my sensations.
My face remained glued to the
pane, because l was too limp to take
1t away. The strange man arose and
came out at the front door and around
to where we trembled and shrank
and regarded US politely. In a voice
strangely not my own / stammered
foolishly that l was showing my
friends the Sutton house. The strange
man then announced that he was Mrs,
Sutton's brother and living there till
the arrival of the family and he would
be charmed
Were you ever hypnotized? Did
you ever dream of doing things that
curdled your soul with shame? Well,
I curdled as we trailed after that re-
lentlese man, who took US from attic
to cellar and had the cruelty to serve
tea into the bargain and act as though
We had called politely instead OF peek
ing In at windows!
HE hadn't any right to revenge
himself SO! The inside of the house?
Ny dear, the house is a perfect dream.
| a beauty! That's the most exasperat-
ing part of til"