Evening journal., 1898-06-15
c0FFINs IN HIS BARN.
agreeable Features of Accepting
nm Undertakes a. Tenant

Of be house, and was built in the days
when the family had carriages. and
large ones at that. Now there are no
carriages Of any kind In it. The possi-
biltes of the barn as a source OF in-
come has occurred to the young wom-
an of the house many times. Then she
concluded to rentit
II told her to do it and keep the
money for herself" her husband told
the Jolly men who were playing whist
In the smoking car, "and she was nat
urally anxious to get as much rent as
possible for il. / never rented barn
before; neither had she. So we had no
idea how much IL was worth. One night,
when l came home, my wife told me
She had rented the barn. She had no
idea to what use II was going 10 be
put, except that somebody wanted TO
use II TO store things in. She knew the
man who rented II from having seen
him nearly every day, and she was GER
tain that IL was all right. All these
things she told me, but they were not
important from her point of view. Tho
climax Of her story was that the man
had offered her sa5, aud she had never
expootod so much. The man was to
move in next day and would send a
check that night at
After awhile the check came, 1
looked al the name and saw that II was
that of the undertaken down near the
railroad station. l wondered what lie
wanted with the barn, but thought
nothing more about the matter. twas
only when went downstairs the next
morning that appreciated the full sig
uiacance OF my wife's bargain.
Stretched across the lawn were about
20 pine collins. The men were unload.
ing them from the wagon end then
carrying them across the lawn TO the
barn. You know how the road leads by
our dining-room there. When all
through breakfast I faced slowly
moving procession OF pine coffin. My
wife looked utterly crushed. Nothing
was said after we had first seen the cot
fms. But we exchanged very eloquent
glances
"'It can't be Ike this very much
longer she said. after awhile. They
are moving them In, you know, and that
Mill have to come to an end in few
moments. Then, you know. they VIII
never be seen again
~ suggested that It scarcely seemed
likely the collins were to be locked UP
In the barn forever, and / suggested
Chat IL was probable that we would seo
them carried In and out every morning
But as she was on the verge OF tears,
/ did not continue the discussion of the
subject then. At dinner that night
everything had been agreeably settled
There was 10 be no more collins carried
IN, and 1t was not likely that theJ
would be called for very often.
"'The only thing that we have TO do.
she said. Is TO keep away from tho barn
J and just make up our minds not to thinl
about EN-
, ''eut It proved W be little ditiicul
10 90 that. We vent to bed at ths usuee
tims. aud I had just begun 70 get y
! sleep when The bell rang furlously.
know that tho servant was not awake
- went 20 tho window and polfed me
head Qua Tvs nson were standing ~
tl,o door ssked ti'eul what tbs
wnated. t-
There's n man been killed down o.
the railroad track one Of them said.
What's TINT TO me?' Iasked. 'Wh,
have you come here at nearly midnight
TO tell me that mans dead down on tb,
railroad track?'
I've want q coffin, one of the mer
, said, and we for,e,t TO get a key thil
, morning
MY wife, who was up now, heard the
conversation. / threw down the key
determined the next morning TO mov
| out those collins IL had TO do Il myself
\ At breakfast T looked out of the win
, dow, and down the road from the barr
came man bearing one Of the whit
: collins on his shoulder
. "'Ono OF ems passing by now; CA
- tell from the expression OF your face,
= my wife cried. and ran out Of the room.
y ~ went down TO the undcrtaker's a
: fast as my legs could carry me. sal
(. that tho cofins must DO removed ini
z meAately, and offered to give back tn
r money then, and made myself so EN-
4 Phato that certainly must have bee
4 Objectionable. Atall events the undel
A taker-my wife's tenant-got as es
d cited as did, and refused 10 move on
- the cofEins until the end of the montl
He said he was the coroner OF the tow
and wanted to have those collins store
in that neighborhood because ther
+ were 50 many accidents about ther
b I knew that he had tho best OF the al
Q gumenb and when I left we had con
s TO an agreement as 10 the plan OF cnu
s paign- lie promised If / gave him a Ike
j. to take none Of the cofiins out Of III
y barn except at night. 1 was glad
a have him defer that much, and no
he comes or sends his men only late Z
night. But It is little Bit disconcer
u ing to be awakened at night by a nois
ia the barn and know that there ha
e been an accident somewhere and co
fin is being carried under the window
n There's only one week more of IT. ant
as IL doesn't happen. more than twiS
a week, il is not as bad as il migl
have been-if the lease had been mao
= for year, for instance. and there ha
/