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The tremendous , devastating floods that came annually with the breaking up of winter failed to reach the houses , -- although in 1883 , -- according to the records , -- the water came up to within a foot of Joe Roush 's blacksmith shop , situated at that time halfway down the slope , compelling the smith to think seriously of `` moving up a couple of hops , '' a precaution that was rendered unnecessary by a subsequent midsummer bolt of lightning that destroyed not only the forge but shocked Joe so severely that he `` saw green '' for a matter of six weeks and finally resulted in his falling off the dock into deep water in the middle of what was intended to be a protracted spree brought on by the discovery that his insurance policy did not cover `` loss by lightning . '' To this day , the older inhabitants of Windomville will tell you about the way his widow `` took on '' until she could n't stand it any longer , -- and then married George Hooper , the butcher , four months after the shocking demise of Joseph . Dowd 's Tavern had few transient guests . `` Drummers '' from the city hard-by dropped in occasionally for a midday meal , but they never stayed the night . The guests were what the Misses Dowd called `` regulars . '' They included Hatch , the photographer ; an old and indigent couple , parents of a farmer whose wife objected so vehemently to their well-meant efforts to `` run '' her house for her that he was obliged to `` board 'em '' with the Dowd girls , an arrangement that seemed to satisfy every one concerned except the farmer himself , who never missed an opportunity to praise the food and the comforts to be enjoyed at the county `` poorhouse '' when he paid his semi-annual visit to the venerable dependents ; Mr. Charlie Webster , the rotund manager of the grain elevator , who spent every Saturday night and Sunday in the city and showed up for duty on Monday with pinkish eyes and a rather tremulous whistle that was supposed to be reminiscent of ecclesiastical associations ; Miss Flora Grady , the dress-maker ; Doctor Simpson , the dentist , a pale young man with extremely bad teeth and a habit of smiling , even at funerals ; Miss Miller , the principal of the school , who was content with a small room over the kitchen at ten dollars a week , thereby permitting her to save something out of her salary , which was fifty dollars a month ; A. Lincoln Pollock , the editor , owner and printer of the Weekly Sun , and his wife , Maude Baggs Pollock , who besides contributing a poem to each and every issue of the paper , -LRB- over her own signature -RRB- , collected news and society items , ran the postoffice for her husband , -LRB- he being the postmaster -RRB- , and taught the Bible Class in the Presbyterian Sunday-school , as well as officiating as president and secretary of the Literary Society , secretary to the town board , secretary of the W. C. T. U. , secretary of the Woman 's Foreign Missionary Society , secretary of the American Soldiers ' and Sailors ' Relief Fund , secretary of the Windomville Improvement Association , secretary of the Lady Maccabees , and , last but far from least , secretary of the local branch of the Society for the Preservation of the Redwood Forests of California . She was a born secretary .