HOUSE, PLANS, AND SPECIFICATIONS. 49 



ing confirmed ; those who had &quot; known better&quot; all 

 along were in high spirits; the evidence was alto 

 gether against the success of the new enterprise, and 

 were among the most favorable. It was rumored 

 that contractor, house, and all had gone down in a 

 storm on the Long Island Sound. In the midst of 

 these dreadful rumors, a vessel appeared one morn 

 ing at the dock near the premises, and landed bricks, 

 beams, and timbers evidently what had been once 

 a house, and what must be a house again. The 

 whole aspect of affairs changed ; hilarity succeeded 

 gloom ; doubts disappeared ; hopes grew into cer 

 tainties ; and the mason who was building the foun 

 dation engaged all the carts, trucks, and wagons in 

 the village to transport what he called &quot; the stuff&quot; to 

 my premises. He drove down in a great state of 

 excitement only to find the gate to the dock closed 

 and locked. 



Here was an unexpected block to the wheels of 

 progress. There was a high, strong gate. On one 

 side, all the vehicles of Flushing ; on the other, a 

 mass of timber, joists, boards, and shingles, supposed 

 to represent a house. On careful investigation, it 

 turned out that an Irishman named Barney wheth 

 er it was something Barney or Barney something, no 

 one ever knew, as he was invariably called simply 



C 



