The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-11-03

ye goin' away v tn Brompton trenches
 'thout sayin' It's all right-ail right now. Miker'
 Then old Billy kissed the pail and
 the hat. sobbed a little, scrambled upon his feet. glared upon his comrades def- antly for his weakness and emotion. and then. stumping along to the ser
 geant in charge. remarked sententious- ly:
 Plant i'm as soon as ye likes now. Sergeant. Mike was a 'ard un, was Mike But I've made my peace WI
 i'm, an tn sooner ee's under cover tn better fur all in chelsyp'
 The sergeant gave q low word Of command. the coffin was lifted to the shoulders of the men, and the strange, aimping, shufiiing. halting cortege moved slowly away to the shrill but subdued notes of Little Joe's life and Harry McDuh's mufiied drum, which
 hesitantly picked out the familiar air
 of the 149th psalm. An, here surely are the pathetic inci-
 dents for a story. thought, as I
 moved softly to old Billy's side and touched him gently on the shoulder.
 I knew that a pensioners grief, even
 his mirth. had but one fitting compan-
 ion. knew, too. a little alehouse
 hard blythe Royal Military Asylum
 Tavern. in ancient Franklin's Row
 where that companion could be had
 alongside cheerful fire and glittering
 rows of copper puncheons and pewter
 mugs, and as I touched him on the
 shoulder asked him sympathetically: Uncle Billy, won't you come along
 with me and over a mug of four ale
 and a fresh pipe of tobacco. tell me
 something about yourself and Mike?" He looked at me suspiciously for a
 moment while emitting something be- tween a childish sob and a surly growl;
 but as the vision of proffered cheer
 gradually broke over him, he yielded
 to its blandishments and fell In behind
 me with soldierly step, on our way
 to the little tavern with the big name
 in historic Franklin's Row.
 I say historic Franklin's Row, for the
 very place where we were finally costly l seated before huge deal table beside
 a cavernous fireplace, was the kitchen
 of the identical house in which the dis
 solute Charles, touched by the gene
 rous pleadings of kindly Nell Gwynne gave to her, to be instantly trans ferred by his favorite as site for a
 pensioners hospital, King James col 1 lege and its pleasant surrounding
 meadows which Charles had just pur-
 chased for his sprightly Nell at the
 beggarly price of thirteen hundred pounds. .,
 The cookies of the old pensioners
 heart soon warmed, and noticing my interested looks about the dark and
 antiquated place, after deep and com
 forting draught at his mug and 8 few
 sputtering whiffs at his pipe, the vete-
 ran ruminatively began:
 "Ay, ay, pardner-no 'fense sense
 Mike is goneLit's Nell's or 'ome; 'ome
 O tn horarnge gal as made us tn 'ome OCT theer, sech as it be- ysd Here he pondered awhile as if fixing 1t all in his memory just, as legend had
 brought the pretty tale down to its l trembling old beneficiaries.
 "Ye see, Nell did 'eep O dreamin'
 fur 'er lordly barrymore. She dreamed
 this that an 'tother, rapid like. King Charles allus 'eeded Ter dreams. May
 be that made 'er dream more an more. Any'ow one night Nell dreamed nigh ty'ard. Next day she wuz glum, like. The king shook is 'ead an worrited
 o'er it. 'W'at's hup, Nell?, ee plumped
 at Ter, rough an ready. oh, ye won't l mind watts hup!' she an'sers discour-
 aged like. 'Odso, give it a name!' says
 ee. So she hups an houts wi it." Here the old pensioner closed his eyes, pursed his lips and began in a
 hoarse whisper of secresy which could be plainly heard into the middle of the street.
 'Methought,' says Nell, rollin' Ter fine heyes up'ard, was in tn fields O Chelsy, an slowly theer rose afore my
 heyes a gorgus pallus, wi a thousand chambers.In an bout theer walked many old an worn out soldier men, 1 wi all kind O scars, an many maimed
 O limb. All O them was aged an past service; an as they went out an come l in, tn o' men all cried out: God bless 1 King Charles!' Then I opened my
 heyes an wuz sore worritted OCT my
 dream Hup Charles roars: Nell Gwynne, wish you'd dream dreams as didn't cost so muchI Then she ans'er hup: "Oh, O course know'd you wouldn't do it! wen ee says: Well, ye knew amiss that time, Nell Gwynne, fur will do it!" An ee didp'
 He snorted and beamed on me in very excess of triumph at his historical recital and continued deprecatingly: That's tn way tn Capital come'd t
 be, sir, an no 'tother. 'Thout Nell Gwynne's dream, right ere in this very 'ouse, sir, hus as made tn British Hem pire what 1t be, wouldn't a lad ary place t lay our or an worn-hout 'eads!'' "Old? Why, Uncle Billy, you're not l old;' I insisted encouragingly.
 He looked at me moment commis- eratingly. He tugged at his pipe furi- ously. Then taking his wrinkled face l in his two hands and planting his el- bows on the table stolidy, he said with childish vanity and woebegone earnest ness: : 'Tll be ninety-two year or this
 month, God willing!"
 "Impossibley' I retorted affecting amazement aNinety-two year." he repeated sol emnly. ''Listed in tn Thirty-frst Foot, in 1919; served over forty year; a
 come back t tn workus or that-that S.,... .1.. :, ' !. s-,s% x,n,snI, 1,ntf