Having planted and properly watered the seed of discord he proceeded to sow tares in the next field by informing Mr. Hine that the Winsers had expressed themselves in a very disparaging way concerning him and his, proposing to annoy him in any way they could and, having heard of his admiration for this great apple tree, intended to cut it down to spite him.
After this it was quite natural that the families should pass by on the other side—in fact the one turned its back on the other in so pronounced a fashion that there was no overlooking it.
The Winsers saw the family move in and noted that it consisted of one gentleman, two ladies and three children, and concluded that the slender lady, who was in black, was a widow, and that the slender boy was her son. And thus matters stood until one morning there was a bad accident in the Hine kitchen and Miss Avery, the supposed widow, came over for help. The cook had been burned and Mr. Hine, in beating out the flames, had had his hands burned until the skin hung from them in shreds.
Carron oil was wanted and a doctor was wanted, and Mrs. Winser, who was home alone at the time, did all in her power to assist the distressed by sending her horse for the doctor and coming to offer personal help. When she first saw Mr. Hine he was sitting with hands extended to avoid contact with anything, and when she expressed a wish to help he gladly accepted, but voiced his surprise that, feeling as she did, the offer should be made. This led to a prompt retort, and almost before they knew it the situation was explained and the eyes of both opened, and thereafter there was a well-worn path between the two houses. During the ten days or more that Mr. Hine was confined to the house Mrs. Winser took down any matters he wished to dictate and made frequent journeys to his New York office in his behalf.
Much might be told in regard to the sayings of Mr. Ananias, but possibly one or two more of his pleasantries will suffice:—
Mrs. Winser recalls her first visit to Woodside and the swarms of mosquitoes in the horse cars that were on hand to greet her: they were the real Jersey mosquitoes of well-defined propensity. It was August, and as she and Mr. Winser alighted in front of the house, which was then building, and which later became theirs, they were met by Mr. A., and to him voiced their opinions of the pests, but he waived it off with the casual remark that Woodside only had mosquitoes for a week or ten days during the middle or latter part of August, and while they were bad then, it was only for a brief period.
In July, 1867, Mr. Winser sailed for Europe on the destroyer “Dunderburg”, built by Mr. Webb, but finished too late for use in the Civil War, and which had been purchased by the French government. The trip was considered dangerous, as the vessel had been intended merely for coast defense, and the traveler not only made his will, having been warned that he was going to a watery grave, but left the most minute written instructions to help Mrs. Winser over the rough places.
What was Mrs. Winser’s astonishment when, as soon as her husband was out of reach, “the Woe of Woodside” (our friend Ananias) came to her with a memorandum saying that Mr. Winser had pledged himself to pay $300 toward the erection of an Episcopal church in Woodside. This was news to her, and she searched the book of written instructions in which all claims and all money matters had been entered by Mr. Winser without being able to find that he had made such a pledge as was claimed.
When she made this announcement to Mr. A. he promptly answered: “Well, if this amount is not paid by you, your husband’s honor will be at stake and you will be the cause”. Imagine the feelings of this wife of fifteen months when told that she must pay this moral (!) obligation or cover her husband’s name with dishonor. Finally, without consulting any one versed in the ways of the world, Mrs. Winser paid over the money and, according to Mr. A., the name of H. J. Winser was put down on the subscription list with others, but some weeks later she learned that the name was not down among subscribers, but headed the list, and was used as a means of extracting money from other Episcopalians in the neighborhood.
The Winsers had brought their letters to Christ Church in Belleville, and had had no thought of making any change; hence, on the return of Mr. Winser, and the facts being known, he was filled with wrath. It was too late, however, to do anything. The reason for this conduct on the part of Mr. A. is supposed to have been purely monetary, as he expected to profit by the work involved in the erection of the proposed church building.