The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-05-06

siderable of him.. Not so much as we see
of our lady friends in society when in
full dress, perhaps, but still I saw him in
his working clothes and in his every day
manners.
In San Francisco they told me about
his attendance at the ~obsequies of Sandy
Baldwin. Baldwin and Goodman were
fast friends, aud when Sandy died Mr..
Goodman was asked to act as chief pail
bearer. He came down from the mines
for that purpose, and had to borrow some
clothes of John Mccullough. They were
very good clothes, but not long enough
in the sleeves or the legs for Joseph I.
Goodman. The Prince Albert coat was
plenty long enough in the skirts, but
shirt sleeve which came very near giving
a tinge of sadness to the funeral His
trousers also were of the hydrophobia
variety, and in order to make friends
with the tops of his boots they had sacri-
feed the valued friendship that had ex-
listed between themselves and the waist
coat, as it were.
In the midst of all this the master of
ceremonies suddenly decided that Mr..
Baldwin's pail bearers ought properly to
consist of Judges and political dignit aries
of the State. rather than Of his old and
tried friends, who might be barren of
titles. This was contrary to the Baldwin
STYLE. however, and highly offensive to
his friends, especially Mr.. Goodman, who
had eaten and slept with Sandy for many
moons, and had even taken him out shoot
ing on Saturdays, when collectors were
in the habit Of breaking in on Baldwin's
tranquility Of spirit.
So Josepth T. Goodman arose from
his seat down stairs when the master Of
ceremonies said that the procession was
now ready to move, and he invaded the
room where the casket stood, surrounded
by its naughty, double rank Of titled pail
bearers. Ia all the grandeur of John Nc
C~ullough's clothes, with his arms extend
ing grandly beyond the sleeves of the
great tragedian's coat, his legs wander
ing away below the meager longitude of
trousers, and his glimmering head pro-
truding nobly above his erstwhile hair, he
came with cleaning eye among them,
and, ranging himself fearlessly by the
coffin of his friend, he wilted the weep
ing company with the grandeur of his
own grief and indignation.
"Gentlemen," said he, ~ am here to
act as the pail bearer of Sandy Baldwin.
l shall do it, and those of you who know
me know that l will do it. He cared
little for the empty titles which the errors
of humanity bestow upon unworthy men.
He knew his friends while living. He
knows them still. I was his friend. I
am nothing more than that now. If he
were here he would endorse that senti-
ment."
At that moment Mr.. Goodman stopped
and, taking hold Of the casket, he gently
jolted it to test its weight. After he had
hefted it he said:
"Now gentlemen" and he looked like
a Nunidian lion whose tail had been shut
into the door of the Coliseum by mistake,
or a Royal Bengal tiger, whose own pri-
vate martyr had been ruthlesSly jerked
away from him by mean Of a string
pride, pomp and circumst nee can no
longer reach Sandy Baldwin in that mys-
terious country to which he has gone.
Empty titles and the false glamour and
glitter of hollow honorS cannot gladden.
his dead heart now. Your honorable
this and your Judge that cannot bring the
fash of prize to his pallid clay.
"But friendly hands shall be the last to
touch his bier. No stranger shall bear
my friend away to his grave, for l will
carry him myself"
Then he reached down and put his
strong arms about the casket of Sandy
Baldwin to shoulder it. But better iudg-
ment moved the man who had charge of
the services and the original programme
was carried out.
Lawrence Barrett said it was at once
the grandest and the most ludicrouS sight
he ever saw. There in the midst of
mourning, on the most solemn and i'm
pressive Of occasions, stood a brave and
defiant man, in a Prince Albert coat t1at
tried to be dignifed but lacked the neces-
sary scope, and with trousers which
shuddered at the idea of touching the
earth by a foot or SO. With flashing eye
and distended nOs.ril he deied the entire
programme, and threatening to bear away
the body of his friend, like a true gladia-
tor, he won his case, and Sandy Baldwin
went to his grave surrounded by a little
band of plain American citiz 90 followed
by the titled but over-awed Vail bearers,
whose names were respectively Messrs.
Mud, Dennis and others.
1t was beautiful.
Had I been Sandy Baldwin at that mo-
ment, l should have made a superhuman
effort to make a few desultory remarks
at the grave.
Fresno is also no ed latterly for having
among its citizens a gentleman named
WhiSk, who has done well for a number
of years by attaching the baggage of
various theatrical companies. I do not
mention this because l have any personal
grudge against Mr.. Whisk, for l am not
a theatrical company, neither did he at
tach my baggage. On the contrary, he
bought a box and treated me well, but
others murmur, and, 1 believe, with just
cause, insomuch that the citizens of
Fresno kick with a loud and sonorous
kick, which extendeth even unto San
Francisco and even also unto the sound
which is 10 the north thereof.
MI. Whisk married in rather a roman,
tic way, I thought. A Fresno gentleman