The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1889-07-04
MY FRIEND SPARKLING.
A Troubled Cons cience aud a. Haunt
ing Presence.


ing Presence.
I am q manufacturer and dealer In
gravestones and monuments. There
are three men who habitually associate
death with business-the doctor, the
undertaken and the tombstone maker.
l have the finer feelings and senti-
ments of the average man, yet my &C.
cupstion has led me to regard the
the great and solemn change chiefly
from a business point of view. That
men should die has seemed to me as a
matter of course. and as a necessary
means for the support Of myself and
family. Still, death may produce a
great shock in me, as was the case
with that of my friend Sparkling.
We had been friends from boyhood.
He lived near me; my way to and from
business led past his house. I met him
almost daily. Mutual assistance over
some of the hard places in life. a SINH
larity Of tastes, and frequent inter-
change Of thought and opinion had
endeared each of US to the other.
For a week I had been busy with
preparations for a long business tour.
1t was to last three months. The day
before my departure I had met Spar
ling and had said to him: Il am go
ing on another tour. Lest we should
not meet tomorrow, let US say good
bye now" We separated with a hear.
ty hand-shake and the friendliest of
farewells
was to take the evening train of
the next day. My ticket for New
Orleans was in my pocket, my trunk
packed. the parting with those at
home was over, and the hack was TAX
ing me to the station. Tho afternoon
paper was in my hand; I opened it
and the following paragraph caught
my eye:
SUDDEN DBATH-As we 90 to press the
painful news reaches " of the death of our
esteemed Citizen, Ezra Sparkling, which o.
Cured at his residence about three o'clock
this afternoon. The occurrence will be os
startling as painful to his host OF friends and
acquaintances. as the deceased has apparent
ly been in the best Of health. The cause was
probably heart disease. Particulars are
necessarily deferred till our next ISSUE"
The paper dropped from my hand;
the shock made me faint for a moment.
Sparkling dead! 1 could not compre-
bend 1t.
The hack had just turned into the
street on Which was his house. l
looked at my watch; there was not ne
moment to spare.
Shall I tell the truth. that this
certainly gave me great relief. just
thenp 1. of all men, should be with
the afflicted family in that dark hour;
and here was an excellent excuse for
the non-performance of the sad duty.
l shrank, as all do. from the disagree
able task.
The hack went swiftly to the house,;
the driver knew he had no time to
lose. I saw in the twilight that the
blinds were closed; two or three neigh
bors were on the front steps. I had a
glimpse of a woman doing something
at the door. Putting Grape on the
knob" I said to myself and the scene
disappeared like some fleeing picture
conjured up by the memory.
So my journey was commenced with
a heavy heart I looked about
anxiously for somebody at the station
who could tell me more about my
friends death Nobody could. The
two or three with whom I was able to
exchange a few words about it before
the express came and went knew what
I did and no more. They had seen
the brief newspaper announcement,
and that was all.
1 lay awake two hours that night
after my berth in the sleeper was
made up. thinking of poor Sparkling, of
his bereaved family. and what I ought
to do in the premises. 1t was an un-
usual occasion with me; nobody, left
the gap in my life that this man would
leave. Naturally. I began to condemn
myself for fastening away as I had
done. after learning of Ezra's death. To
be sure my plans were all previously
made. and the three days delay that
would be necessary in Offering my con-
solutions to the family and attending
the funeral would be inconvenient.
That was all. merely a little derange-
ment of my plans. not even involving
my business loss. became angry and
dissatisfied with myself as these refec-
tions proceeded. and tried to excuse
by conduct by the plea that the news
had come upon me so suddenly that I
had no time for calm reflection neces-
sary to a change Of plan. My con-
science was a stern monitor, and
would not excuse me SO easily. "He
would never have acted thus toward
YOU" was its coment upon my apol-
ogiea.
1 tossed about uneasy; proposed in
my mind that I would get off at Cleve-
land and return home; resolved the
next moment that I would do nothing
of the kind. but would send a long tel
egram 10 the widow, explaining the
necessity of my absence and rendering
my sympathy; decided next that this
would be an absurd thing to do-and
at last fell to sleep with nothing
settled. When I awoke I was three
hundred miles from home. and Cleve-
land was an hour behind me. I tried
to put away my thou ghts of Sparkling
and fix my mind on business.
1t would not do. The man who at