Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1888-09-21
NEW VOL. 24-NO.. 1.

YOU ever tried. No thanks--no. don't
mention it-you have been civil to
me. and / would give you all the
property / have got before would
seem ungrateful. Now this winding
sheet is kind OF sweet thing in its
way. if you would like to. Nor
Well, just as you say, but wished 70
be fair and liberal there's nothing
mean about me. Goodbye, friend,
must be going. / may have a good
way TO go to-night-don't know. l
only know one thing for certain, and
that is. that am an emigrant trail,
now, and I'll never sleep in that crazy
old cemetery again. will travel till
| find respectable quarters, il / have
TO hoof it 10 New Jersey. All the
boys are going. 1t was decided in
public conclave, last night, TO em!'
CRATE, and by the time the sun rises
there won't he bone left in our old
habitation. Such cemeteries may
suit my surviving friends, but they do
not suit the remains that have the
honor TO make these remarks. My
opinion is the general opinion. Ifyou
doubt it, go see how the departing
ghosts upset things before they start
ed They were almost riotous in their
demonstrations of distaste. Hello,
here are some Of the Bledsoes, and IL
you will give me IA lift with this tomb
stone | guess will join company and
jog along with them mighty respect
able old family, the Bledsoes, and
used to always come out in siX-hoTse
hearses, and all that sort OF thing
fifty years ago when | walked these
streets in daylight. Good-by, friend"
And with his gravestone on his
shoulder he joined the grisly process
sion, dragging his damaged coffin after
him, for Notwithstanding he pressed
it upon me SO eagerly, | utterly re-
fused his hospitality. suppose that
for as much as two hours these sad
outcasts went clacking 10y, laden with
their dismal effects, and all that time
sat pitying them. One or two OF the
youngest and least dilapidated among
them inquired about midnight trains
on the railways, but the rest seemed
unacquainted with that mode Of trav-
el, and merely asked about common
public roads to various towns and cit
les. some OF which are not on the map
now, and vanished from IL and from
the earth as much a thirty years ago,
and some few of them never had exist
ed anywhere but on maps, and private
ones in real estate agencies nj that.
And they asked about the condition
of the cemeteries in these towns and
cities, and about the reputation the
citizens bore as TO reverence for the
dead.
This whole matter deeply interested
me, and likewise compelled my sym
pathy for these homeless ones. And
it all seeming real, and not knowing
IL NuS d bll'
shrouded wanderer an idea that had
entered my head TO publish all account
OF this curious and very sorrowful ex-
odus, but said also that could not
describe it truthfully, and just as IL
occurred, without seeming TO trife
with a grave subject and exhibit an
irreverence for the dead that would
shock and distress their surviving
friends But this bland and stately
remnant OF former citizen leaned
him far over my gate and whispered
in my ear, and said;
DO not let that disturb you. The
community that can stand such grave
yards az those we are emigrating from
can stand anything you can say about
the neglected and forsaken dead that
lie In them"
At that very moment a cock crowed,
and the weird procession vanished
and left not a shred or bone behind.
! awoke, and found myself lying with
my head out of the bed and ''sagging'
downwards considerably-a position
favorable 10 dreaming dreams with
morals in them, maybe, but not
DOetry