New Britain herald., 1917-07-20
Why Alfred Durkee Tells Madge
q Story,

Alfred Durkee's wink let in a flood
of light upon me. I had thought that
unconsciously he was aiding me in my
scheme to balk Dicky's obstinacy by
making him think I was opposed to
the purchase of the house we were
inspecting. But instead, I realized
that he was deliberately abetting me
by soading Dicky with little ironical
fnnuendoes concerning my power to
make the final decision in the matter.
was not sure that I liked this To
manage" Dicky by my understanding
of his obstinacy was one thing, to do it
with the connivance of any one else
was another But Alfred Durkee was
such a. boy, so utterly devoid of any
malice in his mischief that I didn't
feel the compunction concerning his
aiding me that I would have felt had
he been an older man.
I could hardly conceal a smile at his
next speech, however. With a most
detected air he observed innocently:
well, mother, I suppose that settles
it. No afternoon neighborly tea for
you around this shack. 1t will pc
Just our luck to have some impossible
person with eleven squalling young
ones move in next to us if we take the
other house. I don't know but We'd
better give the whole thing up. what
do you think?''
"Oh, Alfred!" quavered little Mrs.
Durkee, and there was real dtsmay IN
her voice. Dicky caught it and turned
to her solicitously.
Don't you worry, Mrs. Durkee," ne
said "You know ALT wouldn't give
that shack next door up for anything.
And I haven't decided against this
Mo 90 vet Well look the house over
first anyway"
He offered his arm gallantly to little
Mrs. Durkee, and they preceded us
into the house, to which Dicky had
been given the keys by Mr.. Birdsall,
the real estate agent.
Alfred Durkee's eyes twinkled as he
stepped brskly to my side and fell into
step with me.
IT see you are a profound student
of Hibernian literature he said
II don't understand you," re-
turned, smiling.
II Trust You DON'T
MOP Well, to clothe my ideas in
words Of one syllable" he grtnned au-
dactously, you must have heard' the
tale of the man who wished to drive
his pig to Cork"
II must plead ignorance" I an
swered.
would you mind if occasionally
employed a word of more than one
syllable 2" he queried solemnly.
IT shall try to overlook it, I re-
torted, amused, yet a trifle annoyed
at his nonsense.
well, then" he drew long breath.
"Once upon time an 1rishman drove
! a pig along the road to Cork, saying
repeatedly, Go to Dublin, piggy, piggy,
go to Dublin A friend who met him
wondered at his words, and asked him
why he told the pig to go to Dublin
when in reality the animal was headed
the other way.
"'Whist,' whispered the owner Of
the pig. Don't mintion the wurrud.
If the haste should suspect I wanted
him to go to Cork he would turn
right around and run the other way. -
He finished the story with such an
Irresistible look of humorous appre-
citation of it's application to the situa-
ton we had just faced that I laughed
outright
Il trust you don't mean to infer" I
began laughingly-
THAT the Dicky-bird isn't as obsti-
nate as Paddy's pig?' he chuckled
"Hevings, no. I don't infer 1t, L just
assert it, make an affidavit to it, any
thing you like.
But I see that you know how to
MANAGE him, more power to you
Just keep up your artistic knocking of
the house and he'll sign the deed be-
bore you know IT.
He dropped his already low conf
Dental tone to a mere murmur as we
came within hearing distance of his
mother and Dicky. I saw Dicky flash
an inuuisitive look at us and flushed
with annoyance. 1t really was TOO
absurd, this dark conspirator-pose Of
| Alfred Durkee's.
soon forgot my annoyance, how