The House of All Sorts by Emily Carr Read Free Book Online

powerful bully!”
    â€œYou asked me for advice. Take it. If there is any trouble call the police.”
    I carried out the Sheriff’s orders, trembling.
    The Panquists had a baby and a most objectionable nursemaid. She was the first to come home, bringing the child.
    I was in my garden. She screamed, “The door is locked. I can’t get in!”
    â€œTake the child to the room I prepared for you.” (The woman had decided she did not want it after I had bought furniture and prepared the room.) I took down milk and biscuits for the child. “When your mistress has paid the rent the door will be opened,” I said. The maid bounced off and shortly returned with the woman, who stood over me in a furious passion.
    â€œOpen that door! You hear—open that door!”
    â€œWhen the rent is paid. You refuse, your husband refuses. The flat is not yours till you pay. I am acting under police orders.”
    â€œI’ll teach you,” she said, livid with fury, and turned, rushing headlong; she had seen her husband coming.
    He was a huge man and had a cruel face. His mouth was square and aggressive; out of it came foul oaths. He looked a fiend glowering at me and clenching his fists.
    â€œYou—(he called me a vile name)! Open or I will break the door in!” He braced his shoulder against it and raised his great fists. I was just another woman to be bullied, got the better of, frightened.
    I ran to the ’phone. The police came. The man stood back, his hands dropping to his sides.
    â€œWhat do you want me to do?” said the officer.
    â€œGet them out. I won’t house such people. They got away with it in their last place, not here.”
    I was brave now though I shook.
    â€œThe town is full of such,” said the officer. “House owners are having a bad time. Scum of the earth squeezing into the shoes of honest men gone overseas. How much do they owe?”
    I told him.
    He went to the man and the woman who were snarling angrily at one another.
    â€œPay what you owe and get out.”
    â€œNo money on me,” said the man, “my wife took the flat.”
    â€œOne of you must,” said the officer.
    â€œShell out,” the man told the woman brutally.
    She gave him a look black with hatred, took money from her purse and flung it at me. My faith in proffered references was dead.

DOGS AND CATS
    AT FIRST, ANXIOUS to make people feel at home, happy in my house, I permitted the keeping of a dog or a cat, and I endured babies.
    My Old English Bobtail sheep-dogs lived in kennels beyond the foot of my garden. They had play-fields. The tenants never came in contact with the dogs other than seeing them as we passed up the paved way in and out for our run in Beacon Hill Park. One old sheep-dog was always in the house with me, always at my heels. He was never permitted to go into any flat but mine. There was, too, my great silver Persian cat, Adolphus. He also was very exclusive. People admired him enormously but the cat ignored them all.
    I enjoyed my own animals so thoroughly that when a tenant asked, “May I keep a dog or a cat?” I replied, “Yes, if you look after it. There are vacant lots all round and there is Beacon Hill Park to run the animal in.”
    But no, people were too lazy to be bothered. They simply opened their own door and shoved the creature into the narrow strip of front garden, let him bury his bones and make the lawn impossible. Always it was the landlady who had to do the tidyingup. I got tired of it. Anyone should be willing to tend his creature if he has any affection for it. They managed cats even worse, these so-called “animal lovers.” Stealthily at night a basement window would open, a tenant’s cat be pushed through. The coal pile became impossible. I was obliged to ban all animals other than a canary bird, although I would far rather have banned humans and catered to creatures.

MATRIMONY
    I HAD NEVER before