Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-29

pushed its head. Otherwise there was no
change. I turned the knob of the door Of
the ladies' waiting room. 1t did not yield
"Other door," suggested a man, who was
sitting on my bag quite as If he were &C.
customed to 1t and it fitted him. might
! have known. The 'ladies' room" was only
opened a few months in the season of sum-
mer boarders. because it had no stove. and
| there were one or two panes out Of the north
| window. Besides, 1t made the cell called
| the "ticket office 'drafty" to open its win
dows on both sides. and the stationmaster
had spells Of tic douloureux. As entered
| the mems room, a familiar figure ambled up
| to me, hesitatingly.
"S'pose ye want a carriage don't YER
I knew the old driver of my school days
ought to be dead; and. although this was
| Enthusiastically he, he did not seem suffi-
GENTLY alive to be inconsistent with my
theory.
mot yet. Mr.. Tobias" I responded. shak-
ing hands. II may want one after noon.
Are you .ere all dayT'
mo, I amt. I'm goin' to plough the
Bailey lot tween now and next train
time; but l can hitch up any time ye want
me. Jest step UP to that peach-try by the
fence yunder and holler. and I'll bring the
team round. Coin up to the old placer"
Il may" and my chin felt quivery. Was
1t possible that my heart was still tethered
to this spot? Verify. 1t will never escape
till 1.-The silver cord be loosed."
Quite mechanically I walked across the
street toward the undertaker's 1t seemed
natural that any one who struck this village
would need his services at once. AS went,
| l could distinguish the hum of each separ-
ate class Of insects, and the individual note
| OF every order of bird. The nesting robin
twittered softly, the chipping bird Cheep-
cd NhA To-.
| ard noiselessly through the air. l turned
over round stone eXpectantly with my
loot ana startled numerous family of that
isopodous crustaceous animal" known in
pohte society as the SOW bug" all engaged
IN their usual inconsequent, geometrical
maneuvers, and Identical with families
with which l had been acquainted forty
years ago.
| his shirt sleeves. He was ever the most
cheerful man in the county. Nothing in
terfered with the prosperity Of his business.
Inc sign on his little shop was faded, and
rain till they looked like ladders.
is there any news?" asked. 1t was as
IL some one inside of me made the inquiry,
quite independent Of my volition.
i laid out Long George last week." he
answered. land embalmed the farmer on
Adirondack Murray's place. DRAWER aim
expected to live. I got the broadcloth for
ms comm yesterday Zenas is dreadful sick
forty-four bottles rof- Plantetter's bitters.
Little likes got a cancer. He sent a lock of
his hair and SO to an astrologer but the
medicine never did him a mite O. good.
suppose you knew Benjay's Henry'd got a
gov'ment Office. ALL his folks are down
there now, visitint him. Joers sons been
elected mayor of Argentine, and they've
gone out to Kansas. There was a piece in
me paper how they'd never been west of
New Jersey before. Thankful and her hus-
band went to Tennessee last winter Seems
8 II gaddin was ketchin', and half the folks
was out o there heads with it. They'll
KNOW so much by then they come back there
won't be no livin' with EN-. and they'll he
glvin advice to all the neighbors the long
est day they live. When you and I was
young, folks didn't use to STRAIN round all
winter and then come home and strut all
summer. Why, even Siah Graves has been
| to New Haven twice inside Of a year"
heard these Christian Names as in q
dream of the familiar things of some
previous incarnation long ago forgotten,
Your business Is good, imagine"'
yes; can't complain. This always was
| a great place for folks to die Folks die
here that never died before. And folks that
years come back here to be laid OUT
AT this he looked me over with such an
eye to measurements that I excused myself
abruptly and turned into the elm-lined road.
at my usual pace. Then 1 remembered
where 1 was, and that wasn't going any
where and didn't want to DO anything, and
dropped into the saunter which became
the spot.
From very force of environment I entered
the post office and asked If there were a
letter for me- The postmaster's wife was
clearing away the family breakfast in the
ice cream apartments In the rear while
the postmaster, standing in his shirt
sleeves on the grocery side, was asserting
his eyes:
No.
put a patent office report for Benjay's
| folks, and they're all away, and a Demorest
pattern for Mandy, and a postal to Miss
JACK asking her to make a mournin' bun
net Tor Jobs wife. Bell tolled last night
and struck fifty-two. so 1 s'pose job is
dead He's been powerful weak from spit
tim blood all winter. Horace would "a
showed 1t; but you see. they've been mad
at MIN ever since he embalmed the old
man, cause he charged 'em S. They said
twas cool weather and he never made but
three trips; but he said the roads was bad
ana mis- horse Was lame, and he had to hire
sides the fluid he turned into the old man,
and he held more than common. Horace
told me twas with s. jest to scrub the old
man mt to put into a good. clean grave
no job on Job. Job'H have to keep the best
way he can, for there amt another en-
balmist this side o. New Haven, and there
hain't been no ice since the last o. March.
1 IL
goin' to stay long. hadn't We better take a
box?"
Before had time to ask whether he
meant an Ice box or p. o. box he was in
terrupted by woman with a package for
the mall. 1t was clumsily wrapped In thin
paper and secured with a pin. She asked
| the cost Of its postage. He "hefted' 1t in
one hand. then the other, and passed 1t
over to me-
Now. what do you .hing that's wuth? p
said he; "goin to Middletown."
i suggested, with some timidity, that It
| be weighed
SCALES are broke,"r he answered, with
magnificent Indifference: land the fust
notch of my stilyards is two pound. Call
| 1t ninepence. and let her CO." he decided,
as arbitrarily as police court Judge.
While he was making change l slipped
away. l looked in at the window Of the
store across the road, where Miss" Jack
was busily trimming the mourning bonnet
! for Jobs widow. while Mr. Jack was rms
ing vinegar key In the grocery depart
ment. q
When I reached 'Mandy's she was in the
yard, making q flower bed with a fire.
| shovel Il T.
Her welcome was emphatic, and I had no
disposition to reject her invitation to IL
O'Clock dinner. A country dinner, I re-
Elected rapidly. Sweet ham and eggs or
chicken pot-pie, rye bread amber tea, rich
cream, peach preserves baked Indian pud-
a dfnG