St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-11-24
A GOOD FELLO w.
How Rodgers Was Appreciated for
All He was Worth. and How Neg

All He Was Worth. and HOW Neg =
lected.
Brooklyn Eagle.
Didn't know Rodgers, did you-Abra-
ham, G. G. f., which means general good
fellow? Well, did. and I helped bury
him yesterday. When first knew Rodgers
he was young man of IS, and the title OF
good fellow had already settled upon him.
Sunday, or the bell rung for prayer meet
ing. some one asked Rodgers to do it. II
any old bunker fell sick and hankered fol
rabbit soup. Rodgers was to go out and hunt
for the rabbits. If any old woman wanted
sassafras root or herbs, Rodgers was the
good fellow who'd go to the fields and
woods on her errand. No one ever thought
of Offering him money in payment for his
time, and it is only his due to say that he
would not have accepted it if they had. He
was expected to pound down the nai-heads
in the sidewalks, replace broken planks.
have an eye on the bridge, paint the school
house steps, replace the broken glass in the
church, and be the guardian of all bad boys,
and no one ever heard him kick. Later on
the old man Jackson fell sick, and when
watchers were required he expressed his
desire to have Rodgers come to the house
and stay. Rodgers went put in sixteen
days and nights of hard work, and when
the old man died the widow feelingly ex-
claimed:
20, Abraham. but you are noble young
man! l never can repay your
She never did-never even offered him
the value of a pair of stockings, although
she was lett $50, 900. Then Aunt Nancy
Lee fell sick and died. Rodgers had just
begun his days work as carpenter when
one of the Lee boys rode up with the news,
and added:
And the very last thing she said was
that you must be chief pail bearer. Aunt
Nancy Away loved you, and you must
come"
Rodgers went: Aunt Nancy forgot to say
that he should be paid for his days work,
although she LETT SIP. 900 to the heather,
and so Rodgers was out again. He haG
scarcely settled down to work when some
one discovered that the old hand ire engine,
which had been slowed away for six years,
ought to be put in condition. A leading
citizen suggested to Rodgers to go ahead
and fix the old tub up and his bill should
be paid by subscription. Rodgers tinkered
away for week. and a leading
grocer gave him bar of soap, and
dry goods man came down with roll OF
tape. The effort to reward him died out
with that. Rodgers lived just that sort OF
life until he was 40 years old. He even
put off getting married to sit up with sick
horse and be rewarded with thank you.
In one year he was pail bearer at twenty
two funerals and sat up with fourteen diff
terent dead people. When he worked fol
pay, people paid him when they got ready.
When there came week in which some
body did not want him to compound a
Salve, repair tub, sit up with corpse,
subscribe for mill-dam railroad or public
hall. or give days work to public i'm
provement or charity, Mrs. Rodgers felt
that the judgment day could not be far off.
He had put in three weeks hunting up
Widow Davis lost cow, digging roots fol
Widow Jenkins. and sitting up with Elder
Smith. when Judge Froth suddenly died.
Of course his last words were: Il fell in
the service of my country, and 1 want
Abraham Rodgers to be chief boss of my
funeral. l will and bequeath my $4,000
to my wife, and leave my thanks to Abra-
man,"
Rodgers bossed the funeral. He borrowed
all the chairs, got the singers together,
formed the funeral procession and rode two
miles to the grave in pouring rain to stand
with uncovered head. Next day he was
ill. and yesterday, as told you, 1 helped to
bury him. When he died he hadn't dol
lar in the house. He had selected cemetery
lots for fifty people. but he had none of his
own. He had helped to put as many into
Baskets. but he was buried in plain coffin
at the expense of his friends. Very few of
his friends turned out, as they were busy
with their work. He had formed funera
professions half mile long for 'squires
elders. deacons and judges, but there were
only four vehicles in his. The clergyman
seemed to be in hurry. the grave digger
was impatient for US to be gone, and as we
turned away some one remarked:
"Oh, his wife will get along some way
widows always do"