GOOD MANNERS AND THE WATER COMPANY tilation in July weather, and addressed herself determinedly to the children's clothes. Not five minutes later Mrs. Kinshalla's She set breadth and brawn appeared. her fists on her apron, and smiled a warm, protecting smile on her ten-day foe. "Irene tells me you 've had a accident, ma'am. Dear, dear, yes, the stove! An' misfortunes never come single, as the sayin' is. Bear up, Annie Loughney, for your woodshed an' chicken-coop's afire out behind the lot. I'd 'a' put it out for you myself an' said nothin', only for what 'ud happen if the water comp'ny was to see us a-stealin' water off Mrs. Toole's hydrant in broad daylight.-She bein' the one house right near here that has n't been shut off, 't would be the awful onconvenience to the neighbors to have her usefulness put a stop to.-So first I run up to the corner an' turned in a 'larm for the fire comp'ny; an' next I come in an' shooed yer chickens out o' danger. So 't is all done for you, an' ye need n't to fret. The comp'ny 'll be here any minute." Duck Hollow had a volunteer fire department which was the pride of all the leading families. The borough had recently bought an engine, and the old hosecart and ladder-wagon had been made Stacy's like new in a coat of red paint. team, and Mulvihill's bay, and McCormick's old brown mare Bess, were the horses generally chosen to draw this equip ment. on Horses and men turned out as usual this Monday noon, and lined up Meade Street near the Loughney home. There were only six members of the fire company on hand to fire the steamer and lay the hose and open the hydrant and give orders. The other eighteen worked in the mines, and would not come to the surface earlier than two o'clock. 66 ""T is the hell of a fire," said Willie "Run the hose up her path, an' see ye "Easy, now. 63 Charlie's the awful man about his potatoes an' flowers." Mrs. Kinshalla stood at the kitchen door and explained matters while the firemen picked their way. "I'd never 'a' disthurbed ye, such a hot day as it is an' all, only for the Trust an' its water famyne. Not a quart o' water 'ud I dare throw on it at all, till after dark. An' I knew ye had the right to the big plugs out by the road, an' no questions ast whose houses ye used it on." "It's all right, ma'am," said the foreman politely. "No trouble at all. Don't mintion it. All right, Harry! Let 'er go! Wa-ter!” "Look out an' be ready for it," Willie Stacy advised his chief. "Oh, Willie! It was the stove bursted on me, the first place!" wailed Mrs. Loughney. ye Don't fret. "Don't cry, Annie. What's the old shanty amount to, annyhow? If Charlie 'd tore it down, you 'd never 'a' raised the single objection to him doin' it, I bet you." "Help me hold 'er again' the current," ordered the superior officer. "Therenow we get 'er! Good stream, for oncet. Nothin' to put out, -Aw, looka! Soldi's peanut roaster. scarcely-hardly smokin'. 'Bout as dangerous as Nick Nick did n't call out no fire-engines." "If he was a lady he would, though," was the sage reply of Will Stacy. "Given her about enough, ain't we? Though we might sprinkle Charlie's garden for him, if we could get half stream. Will we try it?" "Not me!" the foreman decided. "I ain't had my dinner yet, an' the boys up to the shops is liable to break into my can I'm any minute an' eat the pie off me. in a hurry, I am. An' it takes us awhile to put away our stuff, too." "Ye done fine," said Mrs. Kinshalla heartily, as the two passed the kitchen door. "It's all out, an' I 'm real obliged, I'm sure," spoke Mrs. Loughney through "Why, Irene! What you her tears. doin' now?" Irene Kohlmesser smiled her prettiest and looked her best in a light gray tailored suit. She addressed the men, wasting no more than a forgiving glance on the disheveled Mrs. Loughney. "I come to ast, Mr. Stacy, if you an' Mr. Brennan an' the rest would n't welcome a drink o' cold buttermilk an' a bit o' cake or pie? It's that hot to-day I sh'd think you'd need somethin'. I got a big jug an' some glasses in on the table, an' plenty more down cellar. Wouldn't you step acrosst an' taste it?" "Do, indeed, Mr. Brennan, an' all of you," Mrs. Kinshalla urged. gets a fine line o' eatin', if these is samples." "Only for the kitchen bein' so tore up we might 'a' made choc'late cake, too," Mrs. Kohlmesser told them. "I 'm ashamed to let strangers see the place lookin' so awful, this time o' day. But you see for yerselves. There's the clo'es washed an' not rinsed, an' there's the tub empty an' waitin'. Not the drop o' clean "HELP ME HOLD 'ER AGAIN' THE CURRENT,' ORDERED THE SUPERIOR OFFICER" "Why, thanks. I guess it might come good," spoke one man for all. 'Come right ahead, then. You can finish up here after," cooed Irene sweetly. They followed her in a flock across the street and into the kitchen, Mrs. Kinshalla closing the line. Poor Mrs. Loughney was deserted to her thoughts; and a new chagrin lay over her more serious troubles. The fire company were hungry, and Mrs. Kinshalla's handiwork as dispensed by Irene made an irresistible appeal. They ate two cakes and four pies and two pounds of pretzels before they rose from the table. "Well, we 'll be going," spoke the foreman finally. "We 're awfully obliged, I'm sure. Mrs. Kinshalla, vour folks I cold water can we get till after dark; an' then we haul it off our neighbor Mrs. Toole. Awful slow it is, though. could n't help wishin' our tub was in line with with Mrs. Loughney's chicken-coop, awhile back. The fire did n't need all the good water that was poured out on it." "Why, listen here!" said a fireman, wrestling with a great idea. "Why could n't we fill yer tub with the hose, once, now we have it coupled on the plug an' all?" "Fill all the tubs as wants it!" Stacy exclaimed. "Annie Loughney 'll be glad, for one." "Sure thing!" said the fire company with enthusiasm. "Deed, I wish you gentlemen was to be called down here every Monday," cried Irene with a giggle. "Wash day is the very time a fire 'd be most help again' the water comp'ny." "It cud be arranged," Brennan told her solemnly. "Only for missin' our dinners in noon hour, I dunno but the boys 'ud take turns bringin' the hose-cart down to put out chicken-coops every Monday. You see, we all got to be back at our jobs around one o'clock, though we cud always leave work early on a fire call. Well, anyhow, we 'll do the best service we can for the public to-day, now we 're down here. Soon 's we take the hose out o' Loughney's, we 'll come here an' rinse the wash out for you.' Then the work of mercy proceeded through the waterless neighborhoods on both sides of Meade Street. In the wake of the fire company went Mrs. Kinshalla, whispering, advising, consulting. When all was done, she was prepared to take Stacy and Brennan aside. "This day week," said she in a mysterious whisper, "will be the dang'rous fire in Tommy Curran's kitchen chimbley. Two weeks to-day, ye 'll be rung for to risk yer lives on Hoy's fence an' coal-bin. An' so on. Always about twelve o'clock, 't will be, an' always some place that ain't insured, you know. Will you six fellas be able to come to the rescue o' Duck Hollow, d' ye think?" "I would n't wonder," said Stacy. "I'd kinda like to see what the water company 'll say about it.” "Some of us 'll have the fine dinner cooked an' waitin' for ye, amongst us. 'T will be the reg'lar invitation, Mr. Brennan, every week for the six o' ye. You won't need no dinner-pails, Mondays, for a while now." "You can count on me," Mr. Brennan promised her. "We'll all get put in the paper, sure,' said Stacy. "But for me, I don't care so long's I'm happy." SIX Fire-Mondays came and went be- "How d' ye do, Mrs. Kinshalla?" he cried, as the parlor door was opened to "An' yer mother, too; she 's lookin' in fine health," spoke Johnny Selden. Then he was taken with such a fit of coughing. that he could scarcely breathe, and finally gasped out a plea for a drink of water. "We have none," Mrs. Kinshalla told him. "But won't buttermilk do ye? The water comp'ny is behavin' that mean an' thyrannical, these days, that it's again my self-respect as a decent woman to buy water off them. I only steal it by night because I have to, in a manner o' speaking." "You don't tell me!" cried the ex-collector. "Oh, o' course, there's some changes up to the office: but I did n't know as the new men had started out to ruin their own business on theirselves by gettin' onpopular. Is there others dissatisfied?" "There is," Mrs. Kinshalla admitted, squaring her chin. "Though we was the first." "Forty-seven places, at last count," added the daughter. "My gracious, that 's the awful loss to the comp'ny!" Mr. Selden exclaimed. "They can't never go on, that way. The insurance agents 'll be after 'em, for one thing; an' they'll lose money, for another. No, Mrs. Kinshalla, they 'd ought to change their policy." "They 're called a bloodsuckin' Trust. That's what!" "Well, well! An' they used to be a well-liked company, under the old management. It reminds me of a story, Mrs. Kinshalla, that I heard lately about-" The visitor talked for half an hour on a variety of topics, and then Irene found When herself describing the Scotch boy. she had done her best her mother added a The visitor was properly touch or two. horrified. "He ain't no one to be sent into decent He Christian homes, that 's plain to me. needs a lesson. I tell you, Mrs. Kohl messer: will I get him moved out on the reservoir gang awhile? Or have him fired? He deserves it for his manners. He ain't fit to talk with ladies. Will I see what I can do for him, once? I will, if you say so." "T is nothing to me, o' course," the young matron replied. "Still, I 'm free to own I'd like to see him spited." "He shall be!" cried Mr. Selden, pounding his knee. "An' now tell me about the boys. I ain't seen Tom in three months. You an' the bride can talk an hour to me now, an' not tell me the half I want to know." Just before it was time to start for his car up to town, the ex-collector's mind went back for a moment to his old busi ness. "Now, that water-fight, ma'am," said he. "I'll see it 's settled for you; an' what's more-settled right. I'm a known man at the office, Mrs. Kohlmes ser. If I choose to take that impudent cub's book off him, an' come down here to-morrow to your house an' put you an' the neighbors back on the water-rents, why, he can't stop me. Back ye come, for all his complainin's an' spitefulness. Back he must come, an' turn on the valves for ye, if I send him.” "I'd like to watch him do it!" cried Irene. ""T would amuse me some," Mrs. Kinshalla admitted. "An' I 'd be glad if I did n't have to haul no more pails over the fence, besides. That there is such slavish work." "Leave the whole thing to me, an' I 'll fix it up," promised Selden. Now I must run: don't fascinate me, or I'll miss my car. Well, you can expect me around ten to-morrow. The neighbors had ought to know, Mrs. Kohlmesser, how 't was yours an' your mother's good word that rids them o' their troubles. Good mornin'." Heart of what slave poured out such melody. Who heard great "Jordan roll"? Whose starward eye That breathed that comforting, melodic sigh, "Nobody knows de trouble I see"? What merely living clod, what captive thing, Could up toward God through all its darkness grope, And find within its deadened heart to sing These songs of sorrow, love, and faith, and hope? Not that great German master in his dream Nobler than "Go down, Moses." Mark its bars, The blood. Such are the notes that men have sung, There is a wide, wide wonder in it all, Of those who 've sung untaught, unknown, unnamed, You sang not deeds of heroes or of kings; THE PEACE CONFERENCE OF 1865 AN UNPUBLISHED LETTER FROM JEFFERSON DAVIS THERE have been various contradic- Now, of course, the official report made ference" held on board a steamer in Hampton Roads, February 3, 1865, between President Lincoln and Secretary Seward, and Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, Judge John A. Campbell, and Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, Confederate Commissioners. It has been represented that at that Conference Mr. Lincoln proposed that if he be permitted to write "Union" at the top of a sheet of paper the Confederate Commissioners might write anything they pleased that if the Confederates would close the war then, he would pay them $400,000,000 for their slaves, and that the most liberal terms would be granted. It has been said that these liberal terms were rejected and that the South lost the advantage of them only by the "obstinacy of Jefferson Davis." port of President Lincoln to Congress, and the letter of Mr. Seward to Minister Dayton show that no terms but unconditional surrender were offered, and that an armistice for further negotiations was refused. Mr. Stephens in his full account of the Conference in his "War between the States," Judge Campbell in his account, published some time after the war, and Mr. Hunter, in the Southern Historical Society Papers, confirm this view. Gentlemen who, after the death of Mr. Stephens, have repeated conversations which they claim to have had with him, have either been at fault in their memory of what he said years before, or else have confounded private conversation of Mr. Lincoln with Mr. Stephens with his official utterances to the Commissioners. |