Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-05-15
From the Darlington Southerner.
FITzHERBERT'S URN.
BY ELMA 8.


BY ELMA s.
"You are invited to attend the burn |
ing service of Asher Fitzherbert, at l |
o'clock precisely. OH Thursday, the
Esd, at the kiln outside the city,"
There, the very idea; we all burst
into tears. The invitation came when
we were at breakfast, and with the ex-
ception of Charlotte, who never allow
ed any anything to spoil her appetite,
we could not eat another mouthful.-
Just to think of Fitzherbert being
burned; it was bad enough to have him
die, but to set him on fire. his lovely
moustache and all, was too frightful
popular in society, SO good natured
and obliging, was always ready to es-
cort us about, that we felt his death
terribly. It is so hard to get hold of
young man who you can manage; it is
true he was not very wise, but then he
was anxious to please, and there is a
kind of wisdom in that. He took cold
one night while he was standing at the
carriage door, holding it open for the
dowager Bloomingville to get in; she
tarried so long on the way, hunting up
her things, that poor Fitzherbert,
fresh from the dance, took a severe
cold, that went to his lungs, and he
died, and now he was going to be
| burned. We wept afresh.
"He ought not to have joined that
horrid cremation society,"" sobbed
Laura.
He need not have been in so desper-
ate hurry" said my father, who was
of cynical turn, II have no doubt he
would have been burnt in the next
world"
ct would have been SO pleasant to
visit his grave" sobbed Charlotte, still
eating, "and planted it with violets and
every Easter Sunday placed fresh
wreath there; we owed him this little
civillty; he was always SO devoted to
u.s."
"Well," said my father musingly, 81
don't 'see how you can do that very
well, but have no doubt that each of
you could obtain pinch of his ashes,
and"
80, father!' we all exclaimed; chow
horrid!" and we wept afresh.
We did not attend the burning SER
vice; We had too much heart, and not
enough nerve for that, but we knew at
what hour they were burning him and
We cried more than ever at the time.
Well, the next day we went to see his
afflicted sister. Poor old maid! How
desolatc she seemed. She pointed to
a pink jar on the mantle-piece and
soDbed:
''That contains all that is left of
him; it is poor Asher's urn"
! ''Fitzherbert's urn, shrieked Laura,
"good heavens! I can't stay in the
room with it" and she rushed out pell
nell into the street.
| 1 shuddered rs ] looked at the pink
] jar. To think of Fitzherbert being SO
reduced. I could not believe that it
would ever have been possible for him
to have got into so small a space
! els it a comfort ?" 1 said, pointing
| to the urn.
| She shook her head.
Are yon always going to keep it
there ?"
Il suppose SO. she said dulefnlIy.
| why not pnt it in spare room 2"
81 cannot slight the remains OF poor
Asher in that way" she said, looking
mp in a dismal manner at the urn.
| did not stay long; somehow 1 did
not relish sitting in the room with
| Fitzherbert's ashes
| was sad 10 see poor Miss Fitzherbert's
solicitude about the urn. She was
| feeble and did not wish to carry it
he rself, and the truckmen were so
| careless and irreverent that she could
not trust it to them. She was afraid
to hire an undertaken, for they had
perfect spite to. these urns as their very
profitable busin ess had been ruined by
burning the dead. She had, under
these circumstances, to carry it herself,
which was a great trial to her feelings:
and it was quite sad to see her on these
occasions carrying the urn in one hand
and leading her poodle dog by string
with the other.
Then Miss Fitzherbert died herself;
and she requested that she should be
buried decently, as all her forefathers
and foremothers had been, and that
big monument shonld be put over her.
Her things were sold at auction, and
among them Fitzherbert's urn.
"What will you bid for this ?'' asked
the auctioneer. ''This is a sacred rel
ic, gentlemen and ladies these ashes
used to be pleasant young man once;
you all remember these ashes as |
popular society man. Now what will /!
you bid for this sacred relic %
Va CouISc, L COulo LOU SttIlI
poor Fitzherbert auctioneered off in |
that style, SO made big bid; 7 could |
have made low one if / had known,
as no one wanted the urn, and it was
knocked down to me. The girls |
screamed when they SAW it, and Laura |
protested she would not stay in the |
house with it. I had al elephant on |
my hands how to get rid of it was
the question. | put it on the mantle
piece in my room the night 1 took |
it home, but [ had such frightful |
dreams, that 1 could ne. think of let
ting it stay there. So took it to the
grave yard, and no one saw me as I
dug a hole in the Fitzherbert lot, and
put it in any how to get rid of it,
like the Arabs, 81 silently stole away"
Icannot but think how much pleas
anter it would have been for all of us /
if poor Fitzherbert had been buried in |
the good old-fashioned way. Then we
could have visited his grave and plant
ed flowers there, instead of having his
ashes up on the mantlepiece in an urn.
It would have been better to have |
made q mummy of him then We cou1d |