Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1880-07-28
A Rioh Hat Story.
IFrom tho Little Rock NlseIts,l ]

theft ~ no visilhncc cV'hN'''oc nov
IA the reason that the perpetrators
Of the trick only arc alive. A bust
} ness man had purchased n new stiff
hat, and he went into a saloon with
q half dozen friends 10 tit tho hat on
his head, They all took beer and
passed the hat around so all could see
It, One of tho meanest men that ever
held u counlry Office went Ia the bar
tender aud had a thin slice OF lumber
cor cheese cut of, and when tho party
was looking NJ the frcscocd ceiling
through beer glasses, this wicked per
son slipped the cheese under the sweat
leather OF the hat, aud the man put II
on aud walked out. The man who
owned the hat Is one OF your nervous
people who Is always complaining OF
being sick, and who feels as though
some dreadful disease was going 10
take possession Of him and carry him
of. Hc went back to his place of
business, took of his hat and laid il
on the table, and proceeded to write
some letters. He thought he detected
a smell, and when his partner asked
him il he didn't feel sick, he said he
belle we'd he did. a clerk said il was
evident that somebody's feet needed
washing. The man turned pale, and
said he e'guessed he would 60 home
lie met a man on tho sidewalk and
said the air was full Of miasma, and
in the street car Il man who slt next
10 him moved away to the end OF the
car, and asked If he had just come
from Chicago. The man with the
hat said he had not, when the stran.
ger said they we've having great deal
OF small pox there, and he Guessed he
would get out and walk: and he pull
ed the bell and got off. A cold per
spiration broke out on the forehead OF
the man with the new hat, and he
took it off to wipe his forehead, when
the whole piece of cheese seemed to
roll over and breathe, aad the man
got the frll benefit of il and he came
near tainting away. He got home and
his wife met him and asked HIM what
the matter was. He said he believed
modification had set in, and she took
cne Whit, as he took of his hat, and
she said she should think it had.
sWhere did you get into it 2" said she.
sect into it p said the man, 81 have
not got into anything, but some dead
ly disease got hold of me, and shall
not live. She told him if any disease
that smelled like that had got hold OF
him and was TO become chronic, she
felt as though he would be burden
to himself if he lived very long. She
got his clothes of, soaked his feet in
mustard water, aud he slept The hat
was lying on the center table, and the
children would come in and get a
smell of it and look at each other with
reproachfal gances, and go out and
play. The man slept and dreamed
that smallpox flag was hung in
front of his house, and that he was
riding in a butcher wagon TO the pest
house. The woman sent to doctor,
and when the man of pills arrived she
told him all about the case. The doc
tor picked up the patients new hat,
tried it on, and got snuff. He said
the hat was picked before it was ripe
The doctor and the wife held post
mortem examination of the hat, and
found the slice OF limberger. "Few
and short were the prayers they said,
They woke the patient, and to pre-
pare his mind for the revelation that
was about to he made, the doctor
asked if his worldly affairs were in a
satisfactory condition. He gasped and
said they were. The doctor asked
him If he had male bis will. He said
he had not, but that he wanted law.
YER sent for at once. The doctor
asked him If he felt as though he was
prepared to shuttle of. The man said
he had always tried to lead different
life, and had t,ied to be done by the
same as he would do it himself, but
that he might have made mistake
some way, and that he would like to
have a munster sent for to take an &C.
connt of stock.
Then the doctor brought to the
, bedside the hat, opened up the sweat
leather, and showed the dying man
what it was that smelled so. and told
HIM he was as we'll as any man in the
| city. The patient pinches himself te
see IT he is alive, and jumped out o
, bed and called for bis revolver, and