The Glenwood post., 1919-10-11

In such comforts were classified as the
Rich. They paid the inhabitant Of
s'the girls room" two dollars a week,
and, In the. latter part Of this period,
two dollars and a half, and finally
three dollars a week. She was Irish
ordinarily, or German. or 1t might be
Scandinavian, but never native to the
land unless she happened to be per-
son of color. The man or youth who
lived in the stable had like wages, and
sometimes, too, was lately a steerage
yoyager, but much oftener he was COL
ored.
After sunrise on pleasant mornings
the alleys behind the stables were gay;
laughter and shouting went up and
down their dusty lengths, with a lively
accompaniment of currycombs knock
Ing against back fences and stable
walls, for the darkies loved to curry
their horses in the alleys. Darkies
always prefer to gossip in shouts in
stead of Whispers and they feel that
profanity, unless 1t be voclferous, Is
almost worthless. Horrible phrases
were caught by early rising children
and carried to older people for defini-
tion, sometimes at inopportune mo-
ments; while less investigative chill
dren would often merely repeat the
phrases in some subsequent furry Of
agitation, and yet bring about conse-
Quences SO emphatic as to be recalled
with ease in middle life.
They have passed, those darky hired
men of the Midland town. The
| 1k,H
other Hkenesses, or swept away, like
the woodsheds where were kept the
stovewood and kindllng that the "girl"
and the "hired man" always quarreled
over: who should fetch 1t.
So with other vanishings There
were the little bunty street cars on the
long, single track that went Its
troubled way among the cobblestones.
At the rear door Of the car there was
no platform. but a step where passen-
gers clung in wet clumps when the
weather was bad and the car crowded.
The patrons-if not too absent-minded
put their fares into a slot; and no
conductor paced the heaving floor, but
the driver would rap remindingly with
his elbow upon the glass of the door
to his little open platform II the nick
els and the passengers did not appear
to coincide in number A lone mule
J drew the car, and sometimes drew It
! OF the track, when the passengers
! would get out and push it on again.
They really owed 1t courtesies like
this, for the car was genially accom-.
modating: lady could whistle to 1t
from an upstairs window, and the car
! would halt at once and wait for her
while she shut the window, put on her
hat and cloak. went downstairs, found
an umbrella, told the "girl" what to
have for dinner, and came forth from
the house.
They even had time to dance
square Dances" quadrilles and "lan-
cers;" they also danced the "rac
quette" and schottisches and polkas,
, and such whims as the portland
fancy" They pushed back the sliding
. doors between the 'parlor" and the
"sitting room,' tackled down crash
, over the carpets, hired few palms
In green tubs, stationed three or four
: italian musicians under the stairway
, in the front hall"-and had great
I nights!
"Keeping open house." was merry
custom; 1t has gone, like the all-day
, picnic in the woods, and like that pref
l tiest of all vanished customs the sere-
, made. When lively girl visited the
town she did not long go unserenaded,
3 though visitor vas not indeed needed
to excuse a serenade. OF summer
] night young men would bring an or
!, chestra under pretty girls window
or, 1t might be, her fathers, or that
of m ailing maiden aunt-and flute,
g harp, cello, cornet and bass viol would
!. pleasantly release to the dulcet stars
. such melodies as sing through You'll
y Remember Me-" II Dreamt That I
. Dwelt In Marble Halls" "Silver
, Threads Among the Gold" kathleen
Mavourneen," or 1.-THE Soldiers Fare
, WELL"
. Croquet and the mildest archery
ever known were the sports of people
: still young and active enough for SO
. much e1ertion; middle age played
euchre. There was a theater, next
door to the Anderson hotel, and wheA
/ Edwin Booth came for a night every
!, body who could afford to buy ticket
was there, and all the hacks" In town
, were hired. "The Black Crook" also
filed the theater, but the audience
! then was almost entirely Of men, who
looked uneasy as they left for home
when the final curtain fell upon the
: shocking girls dressed as fairies. But
} the theater did not often do so well !;
, the people Of the town were still too
thrifty.
They we're thrifty because they were
the sons or grandsons Of the early
, settlers" who had opened the wilder
ness and had reached 1t from the East
/. and the South with wagons and axes
} and guns. but with no money at all.