Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-04

TRENTON, August 3.-The story of the
queerest tribute to the dead on record comes
from Lambertville, in Hunterdon county.
Near that town lives Mrs. Elisha Pratt,
widow of Deacon Pratt, who was famous as
farmer, a genial soul and an ardent Meth
odist He was particularly fond of tickling
his appetite and was deemed considerable oi
an epicure. His wife was an excellent cook
and her dinners were rare exhibitions OF
culinary skill for a rural neighborhood.
The deacon enjoyed nothing better than q
house full of clergymen around a table
laden with tempting victuals. And Mrs.
Pratt, who dotted on the deacon, was in her
element when preparing such a feast and
helping entertain such goodly guests.
About q year ago a number of ministers
were on their way to the campmeetIng at
Ocean Grove. There were just q dozen of
them. Deacon Pratt had them all stop over
night at his farm house, and gave them q
rousing dinner early in the evening. 1t
was dinner modelled on the New England
plan, as Pratt came from Vermont and so
did his wife. There was everything con-
ceivable to eat and plenty of reasonably
hard cider to drink.
TOO MUCH FOR THE DEACON.
The deacon was in the best of humor and
partook even more heartily than usual of
the food. His wife, accustomed as she was
to her husbands large appetite, was aston
ished at the amount he consumed and made
a mental inventory of the various articles
and the amount of each that he swallowed.
The next afternoon Deacon Elisha Pratt
died of cholera morbus. The physician said
the dinner knocked him out. The funeral
was the largest the neighborhood ever
knew. Eight of the II clergymen present at
the dinner acted as pallbearers, and the
other four oficiated at the church and by
the grave.
The widow was inconsolable for awhile
and talked about the tribute she proposed
having prepared in memory of her husband.
Everybody supposed she was going to erect
a handsome monument and the makers of
tombstones sent in bids. But they were all
mistaken. Mrs. Pratt had in view the most
remarkable and yet suggestive Of memorials.
She had the work done quietly in Phila-
delphia and it required some weeks to finish
it.
When it arrived at the farm and some of
the widows intimate friends were invited to
call and see the tribute they were at first
astounded and then shocked, and finally
they felt disposition to laugh that was con-
trolled with difficulty. On the table in the
parlor stood large glass case. On top of
the case was a small arch, made of solid
silver. Surrounding the arch was the fig
ure, in silver, of an angel blowing trumpet.
Inside the arch and suspended from its CEN
ter was a tablet OF white marble, on which
were inscribed the following words in deep,
black letters:
This Is What the Deacon Died OF"
But it was underneath the glass case that
THE GREAT SURPRISE
awaited the spectators. There on plates,
arranged in the order they were served, were
exact duplicates in wax, and some in glace
shape, of the various articles Of food the
deacon had eaten at the dinner the evening
before he died, and also exact duplicates in
quantity and size of the amounts he had
There was large plate of soup.
a big slice of meat, heaping side dishes full
of vegetables, three cucumbers, huge slices
of pie, quarter of watermelon, two plates
Of ice cream, a small cup Of coffee and three
Of work in wax. as well as perfect represen-
tations of what had passed down the dea-
cons throat at the dinner The whole thing
had cost several hundred dollars.
The neighbors naturally ridiculed the
tribute at first, but they all respected the
widow, and when they found that she was
really in earnest in her grief and in her re-
gard for the wax memorial, they restrained
their mirth and said little about it outside.
Many of them thought the sudden loss had
Mrs. Pratt's mind somewhat.
That is why it is only after the lapse of Q
year that the report of the astonishing
tribute has leaked out