The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1891-07-10
A MESSAGE.

II I'VE
1t was q curious story, and since YOU
have all told some experience of your
own, to help the time along this rainy
day, l don't mind if l tell it. 1t hap
pened ten years ago, and soon after
my husband died.
/ was left very poor, and I was very
thankful when my uncle John wrote
to me that if | would come to London,
he would give me q home and steady
wages to help him in his shop. He was
florist, and had Il nursery in the sub
urbs and a shop in town. 1t was not a
very big shop nor a very large nursery
but he had Il reputation for cultivating
rare choice flowers, and his business
was with rich people, who would pay
any price for something that was not
common.
| had not been long with him before
he began to depend upon me to fill his
best orders, for | had natural gift for
arranging flowers, and my baskets and
bouquets were much admired.
So, one morning when | went in, |
was not surprised when he said to me:
81 want you to 90 to No. -, Oscar
street, to dress Il room for funeral.
1t is Il big order Old Mrs. Howell is
dead, and there will be no end OF swell
people there"
/ went on the car, and the wagon
with the flowers was there to meet me.
| While | was busy about the room, the
| coffin was brought down, and a lady
came to me.
'Can you arrange the flowers in the
coffin? [ can't bear to look at a
corpse" she said.
eyes, ma 'am,' ] said, and she went
away; and the undsrtaEers men, they
went away.
was alone in large, half-dark par
| lors, with only the coffin for company.
| was not particularly brave, and l did
shiver when l took a box of loose
flowers, and went over to dress the
corpse with them. But the old lady ly-
ing there, with her soft white hair and
pretty lace cap, had nothing horrible
about her unless it was the coffin. Her
lips had faint smile, and as l put the
white flowers around her face,I touch
ed the cheek gently. My heart seemed
to stop, for it was warm. Many times
had / touched a corpse, and l knew
the feeling. | was half-suffocated,
when both my wrists were grasped,
and Mrs. Howell drew herself up by
LHeIl anu OpcHci ncE cS cS.
'|Marie," she said in faint voice.
s'Marie, l am afraid of Timothy and
his wife; but if | die, Marie, look in
the false drawer of my dressing-case.
Her voice was scarcely more than
whisper, but every word was distinct.
1t was silly of me, ! know, but [ gave
one scream and dropped in a dead
faint.
When | came to myself there was an
old woman bathing my face, and as
soon as she saw me open my eyes, she
said:
"There, you feel better now, don't
you? No wonder you were frighten-
ed! She isn't here. They've taken her
up stairs, and the doctor is with her.
and her nephew and niece, and I'll go,
if you feel all right, for | am her
nurse"
''But is she alive?" asked.
Eyes, dear. 1t was a trance, they
say, and she is coming ont of it. There, !
can you get up?"
She gave me a glass of wine, and l
went back to the shop.
But the very same week uncle John |
had another funeral order for Mrs. Hol-
well, and she must have been dead that |
time, for she was buried, but | could |
not dress the room. | think | should |
have died if | had tried.
But after she was buried I thought !
very often about what she had said,
and / wondered if | ought to 90 there
and tell her folks about it. 1t was real
ly only nervous dread of going near
the house that prevented me, and, af-
ter all, it was none of my business.
1t must have been several months af-
terwards, for it was warm weather,
and Mrs. Howell died in October, when
one day, as | was dressing some bas-
kets, in walked the old woman who
had brought me out of the faint.
''Deary me!'' she said, Il do believe
you are the woman who was with old
Mrs. Howell when she came to life."
nodded, and she said:
s'It didn't do her much good, for she
died, fair and square, that same night.
They didn't dress her for the grave till
they were sure she was dead"
.'Did she speak again?'' [ asked.
s'Speak! Save us, no. Did she speak
to youP'
s'Yes." I said.
''What did she sayP"
I was sorry l had said so much, so I
answered:
''She gave me a message Tor Marie.
'sWhat was it?"
81 can't tell anybody but Marie.
Who is Marie?"
II don't know as I'll tell you, seeing
you are so close-mouthed yourself. Be-
sides, | am good friends to Miss Gra-
ham, and you are so free with your
Marie's too. | never called her Marie -
s.Well, that was all the name Iheard,
and if you are her friend you had bet
ter send her here to get the message.
Was she relation of Mrs. Holwell's?"
mo; she was an adopted daughter.
She might have been some distant con- !
nection of the family-I don't know.
But Mrs. Howell was very fond of her
and never was an own child petted or
made more of. The family thought4
she would be remembered handsomely