Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1921-05-13
able about II.

like trouble. called on him for . help
that day were inclined to resent his
declaration of independence and his
devotion TO leisure, but really Mr..
Snodgrass was we'll within his rights.
1t was more serious matter when
Judge Crooker's plumbing leaked ana
flooded bis kitchen and cellar. Israel
Sneed was in Millerton every day and
working overtime more or less. He
refused to put hand on the judges
pines. He was sorry but he couldn't
make a horse Of himself and even If
he could the time was past when he
had to do it. Judge Croker brought
q plumber from Hazelmead, sixty
miles in mOtOrcar, and had to pay
seventy dollars for time, labor and
materials This mechanic declared
that there was too much pressure on
the pipes, a Judgment of whose ac-
curacy we have abundant proof in the
history of the next week or so. Never
had there been such a bursting OF
pipes and flooding of cellars. That
| little lake up in the hills which sup
piled the water of Bingville seemed TO
have got the common notion of moving
| into the village. A dozen cellars were
turned into swimming pools. MOdern
| improvements were going out Of COM
mission. A committee went to Hazel
| mead and after a weeks pleading got
pair of young and inexperienced
/ plumbers to come to Bingville.
/ "rhey must "a plugged 'em with
! gold" said Deacon HOsley, when the
! bill arrived.
! New leaks were forthcoming, but
! Hiram Blenkinsop conceived the no
, ton Of stopping them with poultices
of white lead and bandages of canvas
| bound with fine wire. They dripped
| and many of the pipes of Bingville
looked as if they were suffering from
spraned ankles and sore Threats, but
| Hiram had prevented another deluge.
The price of coal had driven the
people of Bingville back TO the woods
for fuel. The old wood stoves had
been cleaned and set up in the sitting
rooms and kitchens. The saving had
| been considerable Now, so many men
were putting in their time on the
| house and grounds of ]. Patterson
Bing and the new factory at Millerton
| that the local wood dealer found. it
impossible to get the help he needed.
| Not twenty-five per cent of the orders
on his books could be filed.
Mr.. Bing's house was finished in Oc
tOber. Then Snodgrass announced
that he was going to take it
easy. as became a man of his opu-
| lence. He had bought farm and
would only work three days week at
his trade Sneed had also bought a
farm and acquired a feeling of Opn-
| ence. He was going to work when
he felt like it. Before he tackled any
leaking pipes he proposed to make "A
few leaks in the deer up in the Adiron-
dacks. SO the roofs and the plumbing
had to wait.
Meanwhile, Bingville was in sore
| trouble. The ancient roof of its re-
Spectability had begun to leak. The
| beams and rafters. in the house of its
spirit were rotting away. Many of
the inhabitants of the latter regarded
the great J. Patterson Bing with a
kind of awe-like that of the Shop
! herd Of the Birds. He was the leading
+ citizen. He had done things. When
J. Patterson Bing decided that rest or
fresh air was better for him than bad
music and dull prayers and sermons,
and that God was really not much CON
cerned as to whether a man sat in a
pew or rocking chair or a mOtOrcar
on Sunday he was. probably, quite
right. Really. it was matter much
more important to Mr.. Eing and his
neighbors than to God. Indeed. 10 is
not at ali likely that the ruler of the
universe was worrying much about
them. But when J. Patterson Bing de-
cided in favor of fun and fresh air, r.
Purdy-druggist--m like deci-
sion and r. Purdy was a man of COM
manding influence in his own home.
His daughters, Mabel and Gladys. and
his son. Richard. Jr.. would not have
been surprised to see him elected
President of the United States, some
day, believing that the honor was only
for the truly great. Soon Mrs. Purdv
stood alOne-a hopeless minority Of
one-in the household BY much
pleading and nagging. she kept the
children in the fold of the church for
a time but, by and by, grew weary of
the effort She was converted by nerv-
Gus exhaustion to the picnic Sunday.
Her conscience worried her. She real
y ly felt sorry for God and made sundry
remarks calculated to appease and
comfort Him.
Now, all this would seem to have
been in itself a matter of slight I'M
portance. But Orville Gates, the SUI
perintendent of the mill, and John
Seaver, attorney at law, and Robert
Brown, the grocer, and Pendleton
AmeS, who kept the book and station
cry store, and William Ferguson, the
/ clothier, and Darwin Sill, the butcher,
and Snodgrass the carpenter, and 9TH
ers lad ja..-ad the picnic caravan led