Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-06-26
RESTLESS LOVE
@ BIZ Samuel fe1u)m 1929
RELEASED BY CENTRAL PRESS ASSOCIATION

over, embraced the thin shoulders,
and kissed a half-resistant cheek.
Just you stop worrying about me.
. you'll find out yet I'm not
such a wash-out as a daughter . .
Boy. but won't ! sleep tomorrow"
She tore the wrapp:ngs off the
bottle, crammed it into a shopping
bag. and was gone.
Mrs. Bagot stood for a time by the
window, looking out in a pitiful be-
Wilderment at the curving branches
81 the elms, and from time to time
blowing her nose.
The Harmer place was a spacious
corner lot with shrubbery, a drive
way and a huge square, white house,
with a columned porto. The house
dated from the early half of the
nineteenth century. All the homes
built before eighteen-twenty or
thirty stood, Of course, close to the
road; only the later structures were
set back, amid the lawns and shade
trees. The Colonials in this region
gave little thought to the grounds
about their homes. In most Of the
earlier villages the dwellings were
crowded together along the streets
in something the manner Of minia-
ture cities. There may have been,
in the earliest instances, the necessi-
ty Of banding together in fear on
Indian attacks; or perhaps the habit
came over the ocean with them from
English towns, where land was held
closely, and little Of it given over
for the uses of humble folk; or they
may merely have found convenience
in the close association of neighbor-
hoods. Certainly there was much
less snow to be shoveled during the
long winters. The original Harmer
house, as Pearce Bagot could have
told YOU, stood nc the front Of the
lot, with a doorstep giving directly
on the path beside the road.
1t was burned by the British in
rs. A second house arose on the
old foundation, only TO 70 the way
OF the first, about 1895. The Joseph
Harmer of the day. who had achiev-
cd note even in Boston as a lawyer,
and had served terms in the state
legislature and one or two in the
congress at Washington, was burned
IN his bed that night. There was a
legend that the Goals from his pipe
set the fire as he dropped off to
sleep, propped against the pillows.
His son built the existing house,
removing the old foundation, raging
the barn, and creating what must
have seemed to the simple villagers
Of his day a vcritable park, rs the
house must have appeared q man
sion. II still had an air of stateli-
ness. II il had little in the way OF
charm. The huge doric columns
were a full two stories in height.
The windows were tall, with large
paneS. II still suggested modest
wealth; and more strongly, power.
As II the 1885 Joseph meant the
town 10 bear in mind that there was
vigor and weight in the Harmer
stock. He must have felt and loved
that power as intensely as did (ev-
erybody quietly knew the Joe of
our OWN times. There were legends
OF a measure Of moral hardness in
the Harmers. Even of a
IN matters Of money and property.
Pearce Bagot n unearthed, from
the dustier shelves of the public A.:
brary, an account OF a lawsuit
against the Revolutionary Joseph,
based on the ground that he and his
father before him had made q prac-
tice Of stealing land, inch BY inch.
from their adjoining neighbors. bv
the simple device Of moving the
boundary fences over a little way
each the that repairs were neces-
sary- The Revolutionary Joseph lost
that action But in a community in
which industry and thrift were out
standing virtues and q dour cannv
sort Of instinct for getting and hold
ing real property ran deep in the
blood, that would hardly be held
against the family. In old Ackland 4
man was supposed to be able to look
out for himself.
ITO BE CONTINuEDl