The House of Happy Hours 



AND THE POWER OF ITS EXAMPLE 

 BT SUSIE BOUCHELLE WIGHT 



Chapter IV. — (Contiimed.) 



THE old gentleman listened atten- 

 tively, as lie always did when ]\Irs. 

 AYaring spoke to him, but when 

 she had concluded he said, a little grimly : 

 ^^I am afraid that those young parties 

 are already hopeless, and if bears were as 

 plentiful and wise as they were in Bible 

 times, there would be scarcely a child left 

 there in the row. Why, you would not be- 

 lieve the uncomplimentary remarks they 

 yell out at me sometimes as I pass. Of 

 course they have learned all this from 

 their elders, and that sets at naught any 

 disposition I might have towards trying 

 to put our relations on a more pleasant 

 footing. As you have probably guessed, 

 those houses are something of a mortifica- 

 tion to me, now that the Extension is be- 

 ing so exploited in the papers. There is 

 no good way to reach the Extension except 

 by going directly past them, for they 

 bound all four sides of the block. They 

 have my name tacked to them irrevocably 

 it seems, and, somehow, I feel personally 

 responsible every time I see the dirt and 

 disorder there." 



Mrs. Waring smiled, and Mr. Tucker, 

 Teadiug her face, continued : 



"Ah, I see that you think so, too !. Well, 

 what can I do? If I were to go from 

 house to house trying to preach improve- 

 ment, you know very well how I would be 

 met — I would not even have these few 

 gray hairs left for the children to scoff 

 at. I did venture to say something to 

 Conway about the condition he had al- 

 lowed his place to fall into, and he cut 

 me off very curtly by telling me that he 

 had neither time nor money to devote to 

 taking care of my property for me, and 

 that I need not expect things to look as 

 ship-shape in his neighborhood as they do 



in the Extension, where the houses are 

 better and the rents higher." 



"That reminds me of something that 

 I heard one of my neighbors say not long 

 ago," Mrs. Waring commented. "Just a 

 little thing it was. and not at all worth 

 rei^eating, but it showed the existence of 

 a neighborhood jealousy, which tact might 

 develop into a very fine esprit de corps, if 

 if ft were directed into the right channel." 



"Suppose you take the job of coaxing 

 them," Mr. Tucker said, thoughtfully. "1 

 tell you, I can do nothing at all with them, 

 and it seems to me that you are the very 

 individual to tackle this experiment. I 

 happen to know that they all like you.. 

 Just now, however, they are watching you 

 rather narrowly, to see whether you will 

 identify yourself with the Extensioners-, 

 or still be neighbors with them. You 

 will have to do one or the other, you 

 know. Well, what about it?" as he rose 

 to go. "Will you formulate some plans, 

 and let us talk them over together, or do 

 you not care that much?" 



"I care enough to do the planning, and 

 a good deal of the work, if you will stand 

 by me, and furnish the sinews of war." 



"Well, we'll see ! We'll see ! You and 

 Waring are my safety valves. I guess, with 

 your fine plans for making me spend 

 money." 



Mr. and Mrs. Waring drew close to- 

 gether that evening after the children 

 were all tucked away in their beds, and 

 with hands clasped in each other's, they 

 talked gravely and sweetly of the months 

 which had passed so swiftly since they 

 came to Wimbledon, of the l^rightening 

 future, and of their friend, whose gnarled , 

 old nature they had seen thaw under the 

 warmth of their own family affection, and 

 upon whose delicate interest they had 

 learned to rely. 



