The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-03

| comoterp 4 nau reference TO q MON ent ago IL
on the outskirts Of q little town on the Ohio
| hiver about sixty miles above Cincinnati.
There was only one undertaken in the town
| then-there Is only one there now. for that
| mnttsr-and up to the time began 10 solicit
MIS- trade all the people thereabouts. who were
OF the hide-bound, old fashioned sort. had
been content to be laid simply away In family
burial lots upon death Shortly after made
my hrst call however, a wave OF progress
struck the place. and one OF the fret things
tho village guardians did. after becoming i'm
bued with the spirit OF advancement. wns to
lay out cemetery.
| That was-let's see-that was about twenty
three years ago. had just sold large order
| OF goods to the undertaken whom the first
death occurred after the conservation OF tho
new ground. and as continued to stand high In
his favor. there never wns a CONN or a scrap OF
| funereal trappings put away In that unique
cemetery that did not come direct from me,
| and that Is saying good deal when you take
into consideration that Gin OHM att is one of the
| greatest coffin towns on tho face OF the earth,
ana ohio people. az rule. the greatest OF
| suckiers for patroniZlng hone industries.
Nevertheless. held my ground. In the prose-
| oution OF my business II visited the town about
| every six months. When there did not stop
at the local hotel. which afforded but poor
accomm odatons. but put up with an eccen-
Judson Calhoun. who lived on the out
skirts OF the village, One evening whom
| l happened to be stranded there over
| night found. whom got around to Judson's
house. that his wife was very Ill. She had
| been sick for a week or So he told me- and
their dearest friends, a Mr.. and Mrs Lindsay.
had literally shut UP their own house and
come over to help take care OF her and look
after things in general.
| aIt 10 ,i,ho
under the circumstances but Judson insisted.
30 finally retired TO my old room as usual.
Along toward morning Mrs. Calhoun died. I
| had been awakened by the confusion, and was
at the bedside along with Judson ana Mr. and
| Mrs. Lindsay when she brsathed her last
Just before the end came the poor woman
seemed to realize that she was going fast. so
she called US all close to her side and said:
| Judson. l want to be put away in the fam
| lily lot in the cemetery, and when your time
comes l want you to be laid beside me- 1t may
sound like superstition. but couldn't rest in
my grave II you were not there close at hand
| And with his wife lying there staring death
| In the face. what could Judson do but promise
| that he would make his final resting place by
| hers2 But still she didn't seem to be satisfied
| with that-knowing. as / suppose she did. that
the best man on earth is apt to break his word.
| II the slightest nducement is offered to do
| otherwise 50 she looked up to Mrs. Lindsay
| and said:
=" Sarah. II you're still here when Judson
| goes you'll see to 1t. won't you. that his grave
| Is made alongside mnef
| And Mrs. Lindsay promised. too. thus
| making the agreement doubly binding.
After Mrs. Calhoun's death l switched
! around and made Donald Lindsay house my
| stopping place. When making my semi annual
visit two years later. l saw. to my regret. that
| n1n lt...l.
| right up to deaths door. Now. whether he took
his cue from Mrs. Calhoun or not. cannot
say. but certain 1t is that when his
last hour had come he made his wife promise
| the very identical thing Mrs Calhoun had
asked Of Judson. guess neither Judson nor
Mrs. Lindsay thought much about their SOL
emn words at the time. but 1t wasn't long till
they began to make themselves felt pretty
strongly. When visited the town six months
later | found that Judson had already COM
menced to call on the comely widow. I expect
| ed to see them married when l came again.
but to my surprise the courtship seemed no
| nearer termination than the last time.
| 81 asked Judson what was the difficulty. and
| he told me the whole story. The trouble all
hinged on tho burial Of their former partners.
There was Donald Lindsay. he explained dole
fully. in the Lindsay lot IL the west end OF the
cemetery. and Mrs. Calhoun in the Calhoun
|
| knowledge could go there was no power short
of downright sacrileGe that could take them
away from their respective places. And worst
| Of ALL the two relics were bound by those sol
| emn promises. Judson frankly admitted that
he wouldn't have cared a rap for his word, but
Mrs Lindsay was as hard as adamant. She
was willing for him to call whenever he felt
like it. she said. and she would even 60 so far
as to wash and iron and mend and bake for
| l. l...A - "a l.
| when she died she wanted to be laid by Donald
Once. Judson told me. he became bold
as to suggest that that was all right that she
| could be put away with the Lindsays when her
| time came and he with the Calhouns. accord
ing to agreement but she let out on him so
fiercely then that he was completely unbal-
anced. 'Judson Calhoun she said. I want you
to understand once for all that will never
marry any man who doesn't think as much Of
me as he did OF his first wife. I'll not play second
fiddle to any woman. living dead. You
| neednt think for one minute that I'll marry you
and do for you for ten. maybe fifteen years. and
| then at the last. when my work and yours 10 all
| over and done with. have you go back to your
first love and mako your home with her and let
me be put away any old place. No. indeed.
ought to be Just as dear to you as anybody and
II l can't be buried alongside you. too. won't
have you that's ALL
This OF course. was dampener on Judson
and he allowed the courtship to drift quietly
| along after that. without mentioning mar
riage. Matters we're still in that unsatisfao-
tory state when the earthquake. or landslide or
whatever il was. occurred. | was in the town
at the time and was stopping with Judson. as
soon came to do again after he became &C.
oustomed to bachelor ways and settled down
to good housekeeping. 1t isn't worth while
trying to describe that terrestrial commotion
| Ia,,A L..