The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-12-24

undertaken win lift it into cheap CONN,
| and away you'll 60 to the graveyard ON .
trot. Funeral processioni Hs ha hal Think
Of any one here following your miserable
old body . single rod"
"Say! say! I want waterw gasped
Scarvins.
"Well, want swsyi You've bounded
men, evicted widows and seen weeping
orphans pass your door without the slight
est feeling Of pity. Your turn has come
nowf It's . cold job burying . body in
winter; the undertaken will hurry up with
you, word will 60 round the town that old
Scarvins ID dead, and not one tear will be
shed-not one kind word spoken-in your
memory"
The fever left the old mans face for
moment to give place to . deathly pallor,
and, In his excitement, he raised up on his
elbow and asked: Have you NO mercy in
your heartl"
When Flynn, the blacksmith, on his
dying bed, asked you to have mercy on his
family when he was gone, what did you re-
plya You are rich, Scarvins-the richest
man In town-but your December grave
will be sunken when the May blossoms
come, and your name will be recalled only
to provoke words Of contempt Your kin
win come here to fight over this gloomy
old cabin and your town lots and stocks
and money, and they will have no feeling
for you except disgust that you did not
leave more. Poor old Scarvinsn
I'm do better! Give me water-go for
the doctorI'U be different manr'
"TOo latel Pm going now. I'll turn
down the light, and the fire will 60 out Of
itself. 1t is for you to die in the cold and
10 oplrn 1al 81
unlamented. Good night, Old Scarvins!
The cold sun of morning will find You
dead, and the starved rats will come and
sniff at your face and turn away againl
Merry Christmas, Scarvins!'
Hold on! come backr' cried the old
man, but the stranger laughed softly to
himself and passed out.
It was Christmas morning in Rushville.
and it had been week since old Scarvins'
nearest neighbor, seeing no signs of life
about the old cabin, opened the door to
find the old man half frozen In his bed,
from which he could not move. The doc
tor said he would never leave it alive, and
then lawyer was called in and strange
things happened. On that Christmas morn
ing loads Of coal and barrels Of dOur and
packages Of groceries reached dozens Of
doors where grim Want ever kept guard.
Notes-of-hand and iron-clad chattel mort
cages were returned to the signers. Little
packages Of money were placed in the hands
Of Woodworking men who had called old
Scarvins usurer and q cheat A great
sleigh toiled up the hill to the asylum and
unloaded Christmas present for every
orphan, and in his will old Scarvins had
left the town such public park as money
could not have bought
"One- three -five-twenty-fo
ty-six. A funeral bell on Christmas after
noonl It tolls for whomi' And people an
swered one another:
"Scarvins is dead. He was not such q
bad man as we all thought for. We must
all turn out to his burial tomorrow"
Yes, Scarvins was dead. In his dying
hour he whispered to one Of the watchers
At his bedside:
II want you to tell him that died bet
ter manw
'Ten who!'
1.-THE little old man."
It was a mystery to them, for the little
old man had come and gone and left no
footprints behind.