The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-08-09

space fer seventh coffin"
lit is better as it is" answered
{ Martha, hastily. His career, SO far as
We are acquainted with it, is not one in
which we can take pride. He is the
only one OF our family who has led a
/ common life, and deliberately placed
himself outside of good society, I re-
| fer to our brother, Enos Whittlesey."
! she continued, now directing her re
marks to Thomas Hanlon, who ap-
/ preached them as they were leaving the
/ tomb.
You'll never be able to forgive your
brother for running off to sea and not
| following high mode of living like the
/ rest of the family?" Hanlon replied
NO; he had the best of opportuni-
/ ties but he deliberately turned his back
on them. There was nothing particu-
larry bad in him, but he was common,
dreadfully common He was uncouth
and uneasy when he was in good So
| ciety. He preferred to mingle with
ordinary people. He did not like to go
to school and played truant often. 1t
was only with the greatest difficulty
that he could be taught to read and
| write, and the rest of his book knowl-
edge was very meager. / am sorry to
say that in every respect he was lar be-
low the rest of the family. There was
a common streak in my grandmother's
family. My mother was hish-bred
woman, accustomed to society. but her
mother came from common stock, re-
spectacle, / presume, but poor, IN
educated, uncultivated. 1t was her
beauty that attracted my grandfather,
but after he had married her he was
often mortified because she displayed so
much ignorance and was SO common in
her demeanor when she was surrounded
by refined people. l suppose my brother
inherited his ordinary tendencies from
our grandmother, and perhaps he was
not to blame for being what he was.
Nevertheless, as his father and mother
and Sarah and myself possessed the
pride and manners suita bic to our sta
ton, he was constant modification to
Us. Therefore, although we We're all
sorry and disappointed when at the age
OF fifteen he ran away to sea, it may
have been fortunate circumstance
have risen in life even if he had re-
manned at home. He was not one of
US; he was one of the common sort Of
people, and it was better for him to
associate with them far from US than
near us He knew how we regarded
him, and think he wished to go where
he could feel free to do as he liked.
From the day he left until the present
time we have heard nothing concerning
him. think it is quite probab that
he was drowned at sea years ago.
Even ii he is alive, it may be for the
best that we do not know it."
The old lady continued to talk. She
spoke further concerning her brother,
and dwelt on various incidents pertain
ing to her family. All that she said
the faithful Hanlon had heard hun
dred times, for, with the garrulity COM
mon to great age, Martha and her sis
ter had repeated to him again and again
the personalities that most interested
them. Nevertheless, Hanlon was as
attentive and seemed to be as much in
terested as he would have been had the
subject of the conversation been new
and entertaining.
1t was dusk when the party reached
home. The widows had enjoyed the
peace of mind that they did not know
that it was the last one they would ever
take. Three days later Martha was
seized with pneumonia, and at the end
of a week she was dead The feeble
Sarah overtaxed herself in caring for
Martha, and she, too, soon died. The
of the sisters were placed in
the family tomb, which they had so
often visited, and in which they had
taken SO much pride. All of the recep-
tacles for baskets were now filled, and
the two marble slabs that had long
waited for inscriptions were appropri-
ately lettered in memory of the widows.
Hanlon was suitably remembered in
the wills of those whom he had faith
fully served. He was left little for
tune, enough for his modest needs. He
lived few years longer, and every
pleasant Sunday visited on foot the |
pretentious tomb.
Shortly before his death he pur- |
chased a little lot in an obscure part of /
the cemetery, and there his grave,
marked by small, plain stone, may be
seen. /!
He kept well and to the end the Sc
cret that his real name was Enos
HIS self-abnegation in the
latter part of his life nobly atoned for
the pain he had given his family in his
youth. He was the most common mem.
Der and at the same time the best and
most unselfish member Of the proud
race of Wlittleseys- He was, indeed,
\ humbi) gentleman.-J "A. Bolles, in
Boston Budget