The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1882-08-24
The I.vsiids Story

he hard for you 10 believe .hs, l, who an
nov bni shadow, was bale, hearty maj
two short years sgo-a nlan Of iron, yer.
athlete--yet such Is the simple truth. Ba
stranger still than this fact is the way II
which lost my health. ! los. !. through
helping take care Of box Of guns on
t9o.hupdred- mile railway journey on
Winters night It's the actual truth. AM
viii toll you about IL
belong in Cleveland. Ohio. One Win
ier's night, two years ago. ! reschcd hom'
just after dark, in driving snow.storm
aud the first thing heard was that m,
dearest boy yhood friend aud sehoolmste
b. Haekett. had died the day before and
that his last utterance had been desir'
that would take his remains home to hii
poor old father and mother in Wisconsin.
was greatly shocked and grieyed. bu
there was no time TO be lost in emotions
! must start at once. took the card
marked deacon Levi Hackett, Bethlehem
Wisconsin" and hurried of through thu
whistling storm to the railroad station
Arrived there, found the long, white pint
box which had been described TO me,
fastened the card to it with some tacks
saw 1t put safely aboard the express car
and then ran to the eating room to pro
vide myself with sandwich and some ci
gars. When returned, presently. there
vas my coiiin.b box back again, apparently
and young fellow examining around it,
with card in his hand and some tacks and
q hammerl l was astonished and puzzled
He began to nail on his card, and rushed
out to the express car, in good deal Of I
state Of mind, to ask for an ex
PLANTATION. But no-there was my box al
right, IN the express car; it hadn't beer
disturbed. Crhe fact is without my sus
pecting it, prodigious mistake had beer
made. was carrying a box Of guns which
that young fellow had brought to the sta
ton to ship to rifle company in Peoria
Illinois, and he had got my corpse0 Jus
then the conductor saLg out all aboard
and jumped into the express car and go
a comfortable seat on bale of buckets
The expressman was there, hard at worl
"A plain man Of fifty, with simple, hon
est, good. .natured face and breezy, practi
cal heartiness in his general style. As th,
train moved off a stranger skipped into thu
car and set a package of peculiarly matur,
and capable Limburger cheese on one side
OF my coflin-box-I mean my box Of guns
That is to say, / know now that it wal
Limberger cheese, but at that time nevel
heard of the article in my life, and o.
course was wholly ignorant Of its charact
er. Well, We sped through the wild night
the bitter storm ragged on, cheerless mis-
cry stole over me, my heart went down
down. The old expressman made brisk
remark or two about the tempest and the
Arctic weather, slammed his sliding doors
to, and bolted them, closed his window
down tight, and then went bustlingaround
here and there and yonder, setting things
to rights, and all the while contentediy
hummming Sweet BY and By" in low
tone and flatting good deal. Presently
began to detect most evil and searching
odor stealing about on the frozen air. This
depressed my spirits still more, because,
of course, l attributed it to my poor depart.
ed friend. There was something infinitely
saddening about his calling himself to my
remembrance in this dumb. pathetic way,
SO it was hard TO keep the tears back.
Moreover, it distressed me on account oi
the old eIpressman, who, ! was afraid,
mil ht notice it However, he went hum
ming TRANQUILITY on, and gave no sign; and
soon began to feel more and more uneasy
every minute, for every minute that went
by that odor thickened the more, and go,
to be more and more gamey and hard u
stand. Presently, having got things ar
ranged to his satisfaction, the expressmar
got some wood and made up tremendou,
fire in his stove. This distressed me mort
than / can tell, for could not but tel
that il was a mistake. | was sure that the
effect would be deleterious upon my poor
departed friend. Thompson the express
mans name was Thompson, as found ou
in the course of the nght--now went pok
ing around his car, stopping up whatever
stray carcks he could find, remarking tina
, it didn't make any difference what kind o.
a night it was outside, he calculated Il
make us comfortable, anyway, said no
thing, out believed he was not choosing
the right way. Meanwhile he was hum
ming TO himself Just as before; and mean
time, too. the stove was getting hotter ant
and hotter, and the place closer aud closer
felt myself growing pale and qualmish
but grieyed in silence and said nothing
Soon ! noticed that the Sweet BY ant
By" was gradually fading out; next it ceas
cd altogether and there was an ominou
stiffness. Alter few moments Thompson
said:
Phewl reckon il aim no cinnamon
] I've loaded this yer stoye with.
q He gasped once or twice. then move,
toward the cof--gun-box, stood over ths
Limburger cheese part OF a moment, the
came back and sat down near me. lookinI
good deal impressed. After conten
plative pause. he said. Indicating the bo
with gesture:
Friend OF yourng
y Yes. | said, with sigh.
He's pretty ripe. ain't her Nothin
; more was said for perhaps q couple {
minutes. each being very busy with b
own thoughts; then Thompson said In
low, awed voice.
Sometimes it's uncertain whether the