Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-04-06

/ they fail due m gong 10 uie.
EtOont Do that sai133arrie.z 60
AHes, my Winds ma4s9p. len y
| To- an'Sidnanof my lame-Ibm -
ton; l advertised for him. He is wretch
eddy poor, and he lives all by himself IN
Clump Cottages, Haverstock Hill"
"Wellg"
well, he can't live three weeks, and
I've taken lodgings in his house unA
"Still don't see"
"You're very dull. He can't live three
weeks-tha, is to say, in three weeks ne II
die and he'll be buried. The Family must
hear of ii through you; they will all come
to the funeral, and I'll turn up among them.
But if you die, and ec4t MpH thu
their money they have sunscrtSed 70 we
fund, don't think they soM come to the
funeral" .,
ayes, I've arranged about that. I'll
| make my will, leaving every thing have
to be equally divided among them, The
will must be opepedsby you immedistelE
tor, and I'll leave you'll leave you a
hundred pounds for your trouble"
Thank you-thank you heartily"
"Spend It judiciously, Richard-when
you get it." 4ola.O ~
son the 18th November, at 3 Clump
Cottages, Haverstock Hill, Thomas Poul-
ton, Esquire, of the Inner Temple, Barris.
ter-atrLaw."
|. bTss ssHou. fsmily xs.st.siT assyAt
Tom PoultOn's death. He had pocked
nearly thousand pounds Of their money,
and out Of this sum they had counted on
| borrowing two, thousand A. Christmass
! But by their chairman and treas,1rer's de-
| mise, not only was there no prospect Of
effecting the contemplated loan, but it be-
came very seriour question whether they
would ever see any Of the psid-up capital
liagafn. TWAS voted abominable on Tom
!, POultOn Is part to die at such 2 crisis and
[ nobody expressed any intention Of going
10 his funeral. However, Mr. Dick Harris
completely justified Tom Poulton's dying
by producing his will at the next meeting I;
the will left everything that Tom PouitoD
possessed 10 the society, to A. be divided
equally among its members; and as Tom
Poulton had three or four hundred q year
from house property, every one expressed
an intention Of going to his funeral.
The funeral was plain, not To say meagre,
in its appointments but no doubt Dick
Harris, as executor, did not feel justified
in putting the Serious Family to any un.
necessary expense. 1t was voted thankful
Fin Dick Harris, and never did Any body Of
mon feel more thoroughly convinced of
the vanity Of funeral pomp than did the
members of the Serious Family AZ they
stood round poor Tom Poulton'S grave. d,
But between the demise and burial OF
the Tom Poulton who actually did die MIR.
Dick Harris had made an important dis
covery. nBbatE.R 40 E9y1.
The Tom PoultOn who did die turned
out to be an extraordinary wealthy old
miser. His mattress was stuffed with bank
notes, and 90 WAS his easyrchAir, and under
the boards Of his room was gold to the
amount Of eight or nine thousand pounds.
Moreover, he appeared to have died in
testate; at all events, the only will that
was found was the will made in favor of
the Serious Family by the Tom Poulton
who did not die. In the absence of any
other testamentary document applying to
the property of the Tom Poulton who did
die, Mr.. Dick Harris had no alternative
but to apply to it the testamentarydo cu
ment drawn up and signed by the Tom
Poulton who did not de- Lwlt not at
tempt to describe bow the grief Of the
Serious Family for, the loss Of Tom Poul-
ton was tempered by the rapture with
which they learned that his estate was
worth altogether some thirty or forty
thousand pounds. .aR.
The day of Tom Poulton's funeral was
d bitterly cold one. A drZzing November
mist shrouded one half of the funeral
party from the other half, and all were
drenched TO the skin. There had been
much moralizing among the mourners on
the good qualities of poor Tom Poulton,
on the eccentric taste that induced him to
hoard away 80 much good money, and on
the rreparable--almost irreparable-loss
that his death would cause to the Family.
As they stood round poor Tom Poulton's
grave, discpursing in saddened whispers to
this effect, they were naturally rather sur
| 'fjfiscd to find Poor Tom Poulton standing
ainong them, his eyes red with weeping,
and his general appearance carefully con
trived TO convey the idea that his grief at
| his own death was unbounded. 1t was
natural enough that he should be sorry for
his own death; the only unaccountable
feature in the matter was his being present
as live mourner at'his own funeral This
consideration appealed powerfully Mr..
Peter Hodgson, the member of the Serious
4 Family who first became conscious of Mr.
Tom Poulton's presence among them.
7 Az first Mr.. Peter Hodgson was not at
all surprised. Mr.. Tom Poulton was 80
thoroughly identified with all gatherings
or the Serious Family, particularly with
all funerals Of deceased members (for it
was appoint of honor with the Family to
muster in full strength on such occasions),
fthatn Mr.. Peter Hodgson accepted his pres
ence almost as matter Of course. His at
| tention, however, was directed to the
anomaly by Tom Poulton's first remark. Il
"Whose funeral is this 2" said Tom.
Peter turned dead white.
"Why--its-its yoursf Ten" said
Tekr. 'sla9 salsH - ssssa9G 84e
s'sMdneY s Sezat skBaH gao =
49," Yes, Tom-yours." ,y4iise oo5s rails
This is scarcely . place or time for a
Joke, sir" said Tom, sternly. II 81 3
"Jokep said Peter; 'sit'st no Joke
1 Didn't you die last weckfv bAof Ns'
~? Nonsense f'aAst sc 49,
swell, any way, we're burying you,
| Tom Poulton!"
Why do you call me Tom POulton ~
aren't you Tom Poultons"
Certainly lnot--I don't even know the
name-I happened to be passing through
| thu ,a,poforu ov,I coaivu q 10 rro ororu1 NJ