American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-12-04
She Had Moved.

| MAI. BING used to live over at Will
mington. A few years ago he went out to
Utah upon trip with a business acquaint-
ance named Singer, and while there he
was killed by the Indians. During his
absence Mrs. Bing moved into another
house, and when Mr.. Singer returned with
| the sad intelligence he did not know of
the fact, but went to the old house, which
was now occupied by Mrs. Wood. He
told the servant girl TO tell her mistress to
come into the parlor, and then he took II
seat on the sofa and thought how he could
break the news of the Majors death to her
so as not to give her too violent q shock.
When Mrs. Wood entered Mr.. Singer
greeted her mournfully, and, when they
had taken seats, the following conversation
ensued:
Madam, | have been the Majors
friend ever since our childhood. | played
with him when we were boys together. l
grew up to manhood with him; watched
| with pride his noble and successful career;
| rejoiced when he married the lovely
woman before me; and | went to the West
with him. Need L tell you that loved
him? l loved him only less than you did y
Mrs. WI don't understand you, sir.
Who are you referring to?
S.-Why, to the Major. l say that your
love for him alone was greater than mine :;
and / am
Mrs. W.-Your remarks are mystery
to me. / have no attachment of that kind
S.-Call it what you will, madam.
know how strong the tie was between you :;
how deep the devotion which kept two
loving souls in perfect unison. And
knowing this, of course feel deeply that
to wound either heart by telling of mis-
fortune to the other is task from which
man like me might very properly shrink
But have duty to perform; a solemn
duty. What would you say, my dear
madam, if should tell you that the Major
had lost leg? What would you say to
that?
Mrs. WI dunno. If 1 knew a
Major who had lost leg 1 should proba-
bly, advise him to buy a wooden one.
Slight hearted as ever. Just as he
told me you were. Poor womanl you
will need your buoyant spirits yet. But,
dear madam, suppose the Major had lost
not only one leg, but two; both gone; no
legs at all ; not a pin to stand on; now
how would that strike you?
Mrs. M.-Really, sir, this is getting to
be absurd. l don't care whether your
Major has as many legs as a centipede or
none at all. If you have any business
with me please transact it as quickly as
possible.
S.-Madam, this is too serious a sub
ject Tor jest. The Major has lost not only
without limbs of any kind at this mo-
ment. That's as true as I'm sitting here.
Now don't scream, please.
Mrs. WI haven't the slightest idea of
screaming.
Swell, you take it mighty cool, 1
must say. But that's not the worst of it.
All his ribs are gone, his nose has de-
parted, and he only has one eye and a part
of one shoulder blade. l pledge you my
Ord hnf fha frnf Il har n lxrf ry,l- hn
will recover.
Mrs. WI shouldn't think he would
in that condition; but, upon my life,
cannot see that the fact interests me at all.
S.-Not interest you! Well, that beats
me out. Not int Why, my good
ness, woman, that's not half OF it. The
Majors scalp's all gone; he hasn't enough
fuzz ON his head to make a camel's-hair
pencil; he has stick jabbed through his
liver, and he's been burnt until he is all
doubled up in hard knot, and, in my
private opinion, it's mighty unlikely he'll
ever get united and Strengthened out again
If that doesn't fetch you you must have a
heart of stone.
Mrs. WI don't care anything about
it, sir. It's none of my business.
Swell, then, as long as you're so in
different lemme tell you, plump and
plain, that the Majors dead as Julius
Cesar! The Indians scooped him, killed
him, burnt him and minced him up, Now
that's the solemn truth, and his last
words to me were: Break the news
gently to Maria.'' You see the man loved
you. He cared more for you than you
seem to do for him. He would have well
coined death If he had known you had
ceased to love him.
Mrs. W.-What did you say his last
words were?
S.-Why, just before his soul took its
eternal flight he whispered something in
my ear. Then l made a sudden dash and
escaped from the savages to bring his mes
sage back to you. That message was !:
6. Break the news gently to Maria"
That's what the Major said with his dying
lips.
Mrs. W.-Well, then, why don't you
break the news to Maria?
S.-Madam, such levity is untImely. 1
have broken it-broken it gently. You
have heard it all.
Mrs. W.-Do you suppose 1 am Maj.
Bing's wife?
S.-Certainly
Mrs. W.-Well, she moved around into
Market street last December. Maybe
you'd better hunt her up.
Then MIR. Singer suddenly left to seek
for Maria Mdr Adeter,'' an NJ Y.
Weekly.