Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-10-11


the bridge, but he seemed to be fadtng
away.
The veins in his forehead became
bluer and his white skin became whittier.
He coughed and cougted. and some
times the blood would gush from his
mouth, and he would tntter over TO the
curb and let the life current splash into
the gutter. On these occasions the grief
and terror of old Aunt John were pitt
able She would throw her papers beside
the boy, kneel OH them and put her
good arm about his head, moaning all
the while like all animal in distress
After the kid as the others called him,
had recovered from one Of these hemor-
rhages he would be desperately weak
for at least an hour, and Aunt John
would watch over him until he was able
to walk.
One day the old creature came to the
bridge alone. She was in a strange and
unusual state Of excitement and made
no attempt to sell any papers. She
sought out Nosey Geoghegan and in her
half paralyzed way Of speaking made
him understand that she wanted him to
go with her, and Nosey, not being a
bad fellow at heart, only little loud
mouthed at times, took Aunt John by
the arm and walked with her to the
tenement.
On cot under the window lay the
kid. His wan hands were crossed over
his breast and between his finger tips
was a faded daguerreotype, which the
old woman tenderly removed and hand
ed to Nosey. The newsboy saw the pic
ture Of a fair haired boy, with wide
open eyes, and he looked at the child
on the bed. The likeness between the
two was startling enough to impress
even the unimpressionable Nosey, but,
of course, the daguerreotype was that
of another boy, for on the back was
pasted slip Of paper on which was
written: "My darling boy, John, died
July 8, 1868, aged : years and 4
months, the day mis- father was killed
at Gettysburg"
When Nosey looked again he realized
that the kid whom he thought to be
asleep, SO peaceful was the smile on his
parted lips, was dead. Aunt John was
on her knees alongs1de Of the cot, with
her withered hand resting inert on the
floor and her living arm thrown over
the corpse, while the faded picture was
pressed to her lips. She got up after
awhile and made Nosey understand that
she wanted an undertaken. So he went
out to get one and incidentally to relate
his experiences to his fellows, who inn
mediately made up purse of 81. 40,
which four Of them took to Aunt john
telling her in their rough way that it
was to buy "wreat' Of flowers fur the
kid" She took the money and, greatly
to the surprise of the donors, patted
each one Of them OH the head.
On the Sunday following-this was
on Friday-there was . funeral from
the top floor of the tenement, and when
the undertaker's assistant carried out
the slender coffin he saw daguerreo-
type tied on the lid with a bit Of twine,
and the old woman told him she want
ed it buried with the body. Her old
heart was broken, and the remainder of
other and happier days must be laid
away with the memory. And the un-
dertaker did as she wished, and heaped
the clods on the coffin and the picture.
Aunt John was never seen at the
bridge again. She disappeared as sud-
denly and as mysteriously as she came,
and the boys to this day are of the odd
and homely opinion that she "dried up
and blowed away, because grief turned
her blood to dust. Vincent G. Cook ip
New York Mail.