Rich people -- Fiction; Widows -- Fiction; Yachts -- Fiction
Most of the citizens of the place who had leisure, came at some time
that afternoon to look at the moving house, and many of them walked by
its side, talking to the Barnards, who, as the sun was warm, stood at an
open window, very much excited by the spirit of adventure, and quite
willing to converse.
Over and over they assured their neighbors that they would never know
they were moving if they did not see the trees and things slowly passing
by them.
As they crossed the street and passed between two houses on the opposite
side, the inhabitants of these gathered at their windows, and the
conversation was very lively with the Barnards, as the house of the
latter passed slowly by.
All night that house moved on, and the young people of the village
accompanied it until eleven o'clock, when the Barnards went to bed.
Mr. Burke divided his time between watching the moving house, at which
all the men who could be employed in any way, and all the horses which
could be conveniently attached to the windlasses, were working in
watches of four hours each, in order to keep them fresh and
vigorous,--and the lot where the new cellar was being constructed,
where the masons continued their labors at night by the light of
lanterns and a blazing bonfire fed with resinous pine.
The excitement caused by these two scenes of activity was such that it
is probable that few of the people of the town went to bed sooner than
the Barnard family.
Early the next morning the two Barnard boys looked out of the window of
their bedroom and saw beneath them the Hastings' barnyard, with the
Hastings boy milking. They were so excited by this vision that they
threw their shoes and stockings out at him, having no other missiles
convenient, and for nearly half an hour he followed that house, trying
to toss the articles back through the open window, while the cow stood
waiting for the milking to be finished.
On the evening of the third day after its departure from its original
position, the Barnard house arrived on the new lot, and, to the disgust
of Samuel Rolands, he found the cellar entirely finished and ready for
him to place the house upon it. But Mr. Burke, who had been quite sure
that this would be the result of the competition, comforted him by
telling him that as he had done his best, he too should have a prize
equal to that given to the mason. This had been suggested by Mrs. Cliff,
because, she said, that as they were both hard-working men with
families, and although the house-mover was not a citizen of Plainton, he
had once lived there, she was very glad of this opportunity of helping
them along.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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