Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-10-16
d. REGINALD CUTTINGHURST.

standing on the steps talking to some
friends. He had lunched heartily, and
was in good spirits. Suddenly his face
flushed, grew CHASTITY, and he tottered and
fell to the sidewalk. When his friends
rushed to his assistance he was dead.
As his brother and sister were abroad,
his funeral was taken charge of 10y his
friends; and while awaiting interment the
body lay in modest state before the altar
in the old downtown church where he
had retained the family pew. Here,
during the day, those among the hurrying
throng of passers-by who had known or
heard of him dropped in to take last
look; it was all they could do for Cutting
hurst now, poor fellow
Two who had most often shared his hos
pitality and offered theirs in return looked
down at him. the brim of their silk hats
resting against their lips. Silently they
turned away and tiptoed down the aisle
and paused in the vestibule.
''Looks natural said one, passing his
handkerchief around and around his bea
yer till it shone again.
"Confoundedly damp in here, muttered
the other, his face pale, as he wiped his
forehead. Lets go to lunch.'
Among his set Cuttinghurst had always
been known as good fellow He was
an officer in three clubs and a member of
six: he kept his horses and yacht; he was
a railroad director, and on the board of
other corporations. He was an authority
on Wall street, and an authority on wines
and cooking as well. To have reg" Cut
tinghurst's approval of your menu was to
have won a culinary V. G..
His acquaintance were legion. OF his
friends, as some of us guileless mOrtals ac-
Al L.. III I,,
these rushing days, when a mans Lares
and Penates are set up at his club, or on
shipboartl, or a railroad train, what time
has he to pause and light the sacred fire on
his altar? He has only time for the ac-
quaintance whom he meets today and to-
morrow is lost forever in the crowd.
And Mr.. John Reginald Cuttinghurst' 5
life had been FULFILL to repletion. He
had eaten into the core of his apple from
all sides He had left umtasted none of
the pleasures this dear, delightful fascinat-
ing, material world of ours has to offer.
And now he lay in the stately silence of
the church where in life he had occasional
ly come and fulfilled his duty by dropping
bank note in the plate. Outside, the
world roared up and down the street, and
Just across the way the bulls and bears of
Wall street waged their deadly war His
arms were crossed upon his breast; his
face was quiet and serene, with that touch
of youth upon it which death so often
brings.
Night fell. The din and hustle of the
street died gradually away to but an echo
of its daylight roar. Candles burned up
on the altar, and a gas jet circled pillar.
The shadows moved and trembed as
though throbbing with life. Nearer and
. a.. 4 4
back the chancels Pickering light. They
leaped and coiled and glded down the
aisles and over the pews, and twined and
mtwned about the pillars. Then, as the
silence grew more tense, the outside life
more far AMI far away, they leaped upon
the bier and tore the lid from off the coffin.
"Wakep' they cried to the dead man,
beating upon him 'waker'
He opened his eyes and gazed about
him, terrified. "What-what is it?' he
gasped.
They bent down and leered at him.
''Look at usr' they cried. "You know us
well.''
He threw out his hands and tried tc
beat them off. "You lier' he screamed
''You lier'
They laughed thin shrill laugh. ''LooB
at usr' they cried again, perching on the
side of the coffin, using his body as a foot.
stool; ''loOk at us well! We are the mo-
ments of your life."
at is a lier' he said again, his face pal
ing and wet in fear "They were fair and
happy"
They Knocked him, laughing.
ST." said one, kneelng on his breast
crushing it, "am your speculations. an
the picked bones of those who went down
la l,oi
stared the penniless in the face; the extra
cost of food that left the poor empty anC
unfed. Look at mer'
"And L." said another, perching on hi.
shoulder, ''am the food and wine that wen
to make you rudy and sleek; that fillet
your thoughts; that were soul and con
science to you; that made your leisure hour
those of well-fed brute. Taste me now"
"And |" said another, ''am the pleas
ures to which you placed no bounds; in
which you never thought of what the enc
might bring to others, but only of you
selfish fun. Do please you now?'
"And l, and l, and L. cried others in
chorus, 'am your cold indifference; tn
wounds and Sights you gave to others; tn
scandals of your tongue; your careles
curses; your scheming greed"
"And l." said one small shadow, NOR
distorted imam all the rest, 'am the germ
of hOnoryo killed in young mans hear
by your hooking words"
Screaming, they rose and beat upon him
shrieking hideOus words, torturing jeering
knocking. And through it all-his agony
his tOrment-he recognized with horror hi
own voice; his own words, his own laugh
And he prayed. Yes, Mr.. John Reginald
Cuttinghurst, successful broker, popula
club man, prayed; and it was the frs
prayer which had passed his lips since boy
hood. He prayed, in his terror, to be re
leased to be delivered from this horribl
self, to rise above it all, he knew not how
he knew not where. He who in life ha
known no soul called on it now, sought 70
it blindly, helplessly, and 10! down frOI
the chancel streamed flood of light, and i
its midst stood radiant angelic form.
shOne with ambient purity; its aspect wa
divine.
''Seer' he cried, struggling to raise hin
self, stretching the sides of his coffin, ''m
one good deedr'
But even as he spoke the light quivere
and faded, the figure melted back into
carven form upon the altar-an ang'
kneeling with hands clasped in prayer.
A hellish laugh rang through the churcl
"Bahl' cried the shadows. "What
one against hOst?'
He sank back into his narrow bed hop,
less.
There was a sound of clanking chains
''Listenr said the shadows. "At eac
child's birth rosary is clasped about il