Aunt Augusta wanted Uncle Peter to introduce a
bill in the City Council forcing all of the property owners on the
Square to put down the pavement in front of their houses, at small
payments per annum, the town assuming the contract at six per cent.
Uncle Peter refused, because he said that he felt a smooth walk around
the Square would call out what he called "a dimity parade" every
afternoon.
They have a water system that is supplied by so much mud from the river
that it often happens that the town has to go unwashed for a week, while
the pipes are cleaned out. There is a wonderful spring that could be
used, with a pump to supply the town, Aunt Augusta says.
The City Council tied up the town for a hundred thousand dollars'
subscription to the new railroad, and failed to tie the shops down in
the contract. They are to be built in Bolivar. A great many of the rich
men have lost a lot of money thereby, Cousin James the most of all, and
everybody is sitting up in bed blinking.
There are still worse things happening in the emotional realm of
Glendale.
Lee Greenfield has been in the state of going to ask Caroline Lellyett
to marry him for fifteen years, and has never done it. Caroline has been
beautiful all her life, but she is getting so thin and faded at thirty
that she is a tragedy. Lee goes to see her twice a week, and on Sunday
afternoon takes her out in his new and rakish runabout, that is as
modern as his behavior is obsolete.
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