week and every Thursday
out.

It was during the pantry agitation that Mr. Patrick Devoe came into our
lives. He approached us one sweltering afternoon and introduced
himself with all the urbanity of a native of Glanmire, County Cork. He
praised our house and our premises and my wife and our children. We
wondered what he was driving at, but he didn't keep us in suspense very
long, for he was, as he assured us, a business man from the word "go."
He was, it appeared, the proprietor of a street-sprinkling cart, and
the object of his call upon us was to crave the boon of sprinkling
Clarendon Avenue in front of our place at the merely nominal price of
ten cents a day.

Mr. Devoe could hardly have called at a time more favorable to his
interests. The day was, as I have already intimated, oppressively hot:
there was a stiff wind from the south and the dust rolled up the avenue
in clouds. Mr. Devoe represented to us that the other people in the
neighborhood had contracted for his services and our reputation belied
us if we were unwilling to secure at a paltry financial outlay what
would contribute to our comfort and health. This persuasive gentleman
assured us that, under the benign influence of his sprinkling cart,
Clarendon Avenue would presently become one of the most popular of
suburban driveways. Hither would equipages come from every quarter,
and the thoroughfare eventually would be famed as the coolest,
shadiest, and most fashionable in Chicago.

Furthermore Mr. Devoe represented that the trees, shrubbery, and grass
of our premises would be directly benefited by his sprinkling cart; the
gracious flood of water, distributed twice a day by his itinerant cart,
would not only lay the dust of the highway, but also permeate and
circulate through the contiguous soil, bearing refreshment and health
to tree, plant, and flower alike. The vigor of vegetation meant much
to humanity; by this means an abundance of ozone would be supplied to
the circumambient atmosphere, insuring healthful sleep and general
reinvigoration to man, woman, and child.

Mr. Devoe's presentation of the facts and possibilities was so
convincing that both Alice and I recognized the propriety of securing
his services. The sum of ten cents per diem seemed very trifling; it
was not until after Mr. Devoe had departed with our contract in his
pocket that we began to realize that, however insignificant ten cents
per diem might be, seventy cents per wee