San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-27
THE GOLDEN TABLE.

1t was in the summer of 1926, in an out
of the way cottage in a lonely New Eng
land town, that one might have heard the
following conversation:
81 tell We what, mum, Pm a-goin' to git
out o. this Pm tired o. hoein' an a-plant-
in an a-cuttin' stocks in the fall an
a-thrashin' the fail half the winter Pm
a-goin' to Furnaceville to go inter the fac
try where can be somebody You'd orter
seen how the fellers from there lookl They
was just drest to kill last Sunday, when l
ketched 'em a-stealin' apples over'n our
back orchard. Shiny caps an starched
shirts ev'ry one on 'eml Some on 'em earn
three an four dollars a week sides payin'
board an they say they live like kings at
the fact'ry boardin' house" .
"Wall, Joe, you hev spelt. Mebbe there's
more n yer head than think, but land o.
massy, yeou don't talks eff there was.
You RS big fool as yer Uncle Glib. He
never mounted to shucks, only sot round
on the aige o. Little Pond an dreamed
o. how to git that ere gold table, an yer
dad an Jest dug the meat off'n our bones
to feed you young uns an him. To think
yer dad an should go to work an hev a
fool in the fambly," and poor Mum Her
ring seized pail of swill which she had
been scalding, and went out of the little
doorway to feed the pigs, whose pen was
but a portion of the back yard fenced off
cornerwise by short strip of rail fence.
JOSH Herring sat silent. What was it
about this gold table? Surely he had heard
it before "Mum" was so mad with him
now for wishing to get away from home
that he knew she would tell him no more,
lest it should make him good for nothing
as Uncle Glib. But if there was gold
table there might not that be better thing
to go in for than TO go to the factory?
When "mum" came back from the pig
pen Josi was missing. She SMILED and
said, Gone to the fact'ry; he's no count
anyway"
But he had gone to Neighbor Sanders TO
learn about that table,
"
At the home Of Neighbor Sanders this
anomaly, an ambitious Herring, listened
to n strange tale.
Ages and ages ago one of the historically
lazy, nOn-working Herring family had
been possessed by a strong passion for
money, piles of money, earned easily and
quickly. A travelling pack man sought a
uISuU \ lOilBiuS III IlCitluS y ChDlll, hiSdp
peared mysteriously, or so the neighbors
thought when they were not visited by
him they next morning as they expected.
Not to see the contents of his pack was
of itself a deep disappointment TO these
simple people, who rarely saw a peddler
more frequently than thrice a year, and
surely never INDUCED in the luxury OF
trading with more than one out of that
thrice.
Jake Herring had made great deal OF
talk about the cheating scamp who, he as.
serted, had risen eGrly while the family
were sleeping and gone away without pay
ing for his supper and bed. Yet the neigh.
bors whispered their doubts to each other,
and in few months the Herring family
were suspiciously well dressed They
talked of presents from hitherto unheard
of wealthy relatives. But the neighbors
talked of the missing peddler They be.
lieved the fine clothes came from his pack,
and wondered if sit would ever come to
light"
Some years afterward one of the more
ambitious farmers of this locality resolved
to rid a certain field of its tangle of bar
berry bushes. Jake Herring was resting
peacefully i'm his grave, as far as any knew.
But there were grave doubts in the neigh
bors' minds when Neighbor Rand, to his
horror, unearthed from beneath a barberry
bush the skeleton of man and long.
leather shoulder strap, such as peddlers
used for carrying their packs.
Murder will cut" cried all the town.