The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-01-28
OLD PAUL.
The Mysterious Room, and What
Its Opening Revealed.

Old Paul is dead, and who cares? No
body. For Old Paul was a sloven, {
glrtton and drunkard, and when HI
died the world said good radiance from
poor rubbish. Still. Old Paul made {
most respectable appearance as HI
passed through the village on his way
10 the graveyard, the most respectable
he had made in it for twenty years
For, instead of his broken-down horse
in a harness tied together with strings
Old Paul was drawn by stately white
horses in rich trappings, and instead Of
his crazy Old wagon, with rickety
wheels and spiintered shafts, Old Paul'S
carriage, though for some reason few
like to ride in it, was in every way re.
spectacle. Nor was the poor old man
visible, with his slovenly dress and
oloodshot eyes and burning face, and
grizzled, shaggy beard. for Old Paul
had driver, and rode inside. and in.
stead of the crowd OF rascally boys that
We're wont to follow him, deeming il
rare sport to see humanity sunk SO low,
Old Paul was followed by long and
most respectable funeral traiu, for he
had many relations, though no friends,
and they were all most respectfully
dressed in mourning, though in all rtle
sable crowd that stood around the
open grave l saw not one quivering lip
or falling tear as the first earth clods
fell upon the collins lid.
Old Pauls wife left him near twenty
i !.
for it, for how, said the world, could
any woman live with such a brute?
But old Aunt Prudence shook her head
at this off-hand verdict of the world.
For she remembered that he was once
young, daShing Paul, and Polly Jones,
proud and handsome as she was, met
him more than half way, as the gossips
said fifty years ago, for ne was rich and
she was poor.
''And if the truth must be known. "
said Aunt Prudence, knocking the
ashes from her pipe and lowering her
voice to a confidential tone, as if
afraid of being overheard by some ten
ant of the graveyard, ''they du say"
forgetting that the tongues once busy
with such gossip, all except her own,
had long been silent in the grave,
"'they du say that Paul married for
beauty and Polly for money, and you
know. rs old Billy Balm down at the
poorhouse says, life's wagon will go
hard when there is no love to grease
the wheels
Yes. gold had dazzled and blinded
the one and beauty had dazzled and
blinded the other, but they soon walked
APP, the one to the fact that for gold
she had bound her life to q coarse and
brutal nature, and the other to the fact
that beauty, like frostwork glittering
in moonlight, may be brilliant and at
the same time freezing cold.
"How shockingly they have abused
them pans" said Old Paul's wife the
day after he was buried, on returning
to the house that had been her home
for more than thirty years, where her
children had all been born and most of
them had died.
Old Paul was, indeed, a brute, and
he was well mated with one who,
under such circumstances, could think
OF such petty trash.
But three short weeks had passed
when heard that Old Paul's wife was
sick, the next day worse and the third
day dead, and she passed over the same
road drawn by the same richly capari-
soned horses in the same much dreaded
carriage, to be laid by Old Paul's side.
One day | CHANGED to take walk
down by Old Paul's house. The spring
was in its glory. The forests were
clad in richest verdure. The apple
trees were in full bloom and filled the
air with fragrance, while the bees
feeding upon their blossoms filled it
with a dreamy murmur. The corn
was just peeping from the ground and
the rye fields began to wave in the
passing breezes. The meadows were
vocal with
The bobolinks clear thrilling strain
OF liquid sweet.
The ground birds were singing in the
hedges and the robins from the trees
that overhung the road.
As l approached the house / noticed
horses tied to the posts and groups of
men standing about the doors, and
heaps of old furniture scattered here
and there, which reminded me that it
was auction day.
1t was large, old-fashoned square
house, with two ancient elaS growing
before it. spreading their giant branches
far and wide.
In their thick, damp shade the moss
had accumulated year after year until
the whole front had grown quite green.
There was everywhere an air of dilapi-
dation and neglect. On all sides there
were broken boards, rag-StufeG win
dows, rickety fences and fallen gates,
proclaiming the habitation of the
drunkard.
On looking around l found every
thing in conformity with the first view
from the road. Fields half cultivated,
fruit trees unpruned, fences shat had
caught the habits of their master and
had fallen or were staggering to their
fall. gates hanging by one hinge, plows
with broken handles and carts with
broken wheels, manure accumulated
about the barns instead of making the
crops look ''lush and lusty." The
barns themselves, ventilated by loss of
boards, in the shed Old Pauls wagon,
and tied to a post his old horse, appar-
entity looking mournfully forward to
his future prospects in the hands of the
Jockey who had bought him for ten dol
l2rs On speculation