The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1919-09-12

abandonment in the attic. And there
was always spare ROOM" for visi-
tors (where the sewing machine usu-
| ally was kept, and during the seven
ties there developed an appreciation
| of the necessity for a bathroom.
At the rear of the house. upstairs,
| was bleak little chamber, called "the
girls room," and in the stable there
was another bedroom, adjoining the
hayloft, and called "the hired mans
ROOM" House and stable cost seven
| or eight thousand dollars to build, and
people with that much money to invest
in such comforts were classified as the
Rich. They paid the inhabitant of
''the girls room" two dollars a week,
and, in the latter part of this period,
two dollars and half. and finally
three dollars a week. She was Irish
ordinarily. or German, or it 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
voyager, 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 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 it be vociferous, is
almost worthless. Horrible phrases
were caught by early rising children
| and carried to older people for defini-
ton, 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
! stables have been transformed into
other likenesses, or swept away, like
the woodsheds where were kept the
stovewood and kindling that the "girl''
and the SHRED 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 step where passen-
gers chung in wet clumps when the
weather was bad and the car crowded
The patrons-if not too absentminded
put their fares into slot; and no
conductor paced the heaving floor, but
| the driver would rap remindingly with
his elbow upon the glass of the door
els and the passengers did not appear
to coincide in number. A lone mule
! drew the car, and sometimes drew 1t
! off the track, when the passengers
would get out and push 1t on again
| They really owed it courtesies like
this, for the car was genially accom-.
modating: lady could whistle to ii
| 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 '1an.
GERS" 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 a few palms
in green tubs, stationed three or four
Italian musicians under the stairway
in the 'front halP'-and had great
nights!
Keeping open house." was a merry
custom; 1t has gone, like the all-day
picnic in the woods, and like that pref
test of all vanished customs, the sere
made. When a lively girl visited the
town she did not long go unserenaded
though visitor was not indeed needed
to excuse a serenade. OF a summer
night young men would bring an or
chestra under pretty girls window
or, 1t might be, her fathers, or that
of an ailing maiden aunt-and flute
harp, cello, cornet and bass vioI would
1 pleasantly release to the dulcet stars
such melodies as sing through you'll
Remember Me-" 81 Dreamt That
Dwelt in Marble Halls" ''Silvel
Threads Among the Gold" "Kathleer
Mavourneen," or "The Soldiers Fare
WELL"
/ Croquet and the mildest archery
i ever known were the sports of people
| still young and active enough for sc