"If you want the news,
read the Sun," was the slogan at the top of the editorial column on
the second page, followed by a line in parenthesis: ("If you want
the Sun, don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today. Price
Three Dollars a Year in Advance.")
All of the boarders sat at the same table in the dining-room.
Punctuality at meals was obligatory. Miss Jennie Dowd was the cook.
She was assisted by Miss Margaret Slattery, daughter of Martin
Slattery, the grocer. Miss Mary Dowd had charge of the dining-room.
She was likewise assisted by Miss Slattery. Between meals Miss
Slattery did the dish-washing, chamber-work, light cleaning and
"straightening," and still found room for her daily exercise, which
consisted of half a dozen turns up and down Main Street in her
best frock. Old Jim House did the outside chores about the place.
He had worked at Dowd's Tavern for thirty-seven years, and it was
his proud boast that he had never missed a day's work,--drunk or
sober.
The new guest was given the seat of honour at table. He was placed
between Mrs. Pollock and Miss Flora Grady, supplanting Doctor Simpson,
who had held the honour ever since Charlie Webster's unfortunate
miscalculation as to the durability of an unfamiliar brand of
bourbon to which he had been introduced late one Sunday evening. It
was a brand that wore extremely well,--so well, in fact, that when
he appeared for dinner at noon on Monday he was still in a lachrymose
condition over the death of his mother, an event which took place
when he was barely six years old.
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