The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-01-11

everywheres," he told when when IL
| confidential footing had been estab-
| lished, but l seldom gets as good 'un,
for instance, as you would make"
This was his pleasant Joke. Such
| jokes all men must be prepared to re-
| ceive who make friends with those who
| tread strange paths in life.
| Two pounds is what l gets for most
| of 'em If they beain't too starved.
| Them doctors don't like what they calls
enamic subjects, but they has to take
| 'em. Why? Because the men what's
had their grub regular in life beain't
to be had when they's dead, that's
why"
| i probed the purveyor of the dead one
| night as 10 whether he had had any
experiences of a nature so peculiar and
striking as to stick in his memory.
AYE, plenty of them" he answered.
what would zee think now of rich
lady what would sell me the corpse Of
| her husband?"
"lmpossible!"I said.
AYE, do zee think so? What will zee
think, then, of q rich lady what would
give me her husband to save the
trouble of buryin' him."
'Impossible!"
NAV twas done"
"No!"
AYE. She were one o them for
eigners, and / thought she was one q
them Frenchwomen, but her name was
Burns"
Perhaps, reader. you don't think /
was listening hard now.
Burns said. WAS that her
name"
AYE and a smart women she were,
too. She told me to come to her house,
and | went, and she says: 'Eres my
husband, do zee know. and he amt new
er been good to me- and You shall ave
un. and ave un did, and two pound
for I'm | got, and no mistake. l thought
to get more but he was no better fed
than the rest, and the funny thing he
were drest in the works clothes"
MO-" ! said.
AYE; he were"
| quericd further. Dates ana all
agreed. It must have been my Mrs.
Burns: ] was sure of it. Who, then,
was in the coffin? What crime had
been conniving at?
] started the next day on a quiet de-
tcctive search ! went TO all the differ
ent unions in the vicinity and, examined
the list OF death. Finally | found the
record | sought:
Samuel Burns, died -----, aged forty
one years.
! interrogated the master of the
, wOrkhOusa. There was a funny story
connected with the death of Burns, he
believed; the matron would know all
about it. | saw the matron. Yes. in
deed. she remembered Samuel Burns
well. She told me all about it.
There was lady, she said, who usei
TO come to the workhouse a good deal
and read to the old people and do good
and give them 81 few pennies and
amuse them in various ways. She used
to be in the infirmary mostly, said the
matrOn, and one day, after she had
been coming to the house for two or
three weeks, she was slipping about
from bed to bed, talking to the old pau
pers, until she came to the side of
Burns. He was dying, / told her"
said the matron, "and nobody knows
anything about him and he has only
today come to the house, with just
strength enough to tell his name"
What is his name?' the lady asked
me, uncOncerned like" continued the
, matron. 81 think l says. it's Sam
uel Burns No sooner had I said his
name than she flops down by the side
of his bed and cries out: MY God!'
What is the matter, madam says I,
and Burns himself sort of pulled up to
cry and opened his eyes. 'Ah, you
know me, then, dear SAM SAWS she,
and clasps his hand and kisses it, The
I, old folks in the ward was looking on
: with eyes as big as teacups, and ]
= standing by, dazed like. All of a sud
den Burns gave a gasp and died, and
the lady stood up and turns to me
and says, with great solemn eyes, Mat
> ron, he was my husband / have been
searching for him for two years
: Il looked from her to him for times
3, l can tell you, and then l caught heI
hand and led her down to my room
: She told me how happy they We're al
first, and how the drink had got him
. | by degrees and how she bore with him
for long time, and then came the
separation, and he went from bad tC
worse, and then she didn't see no more
Of him for a long time. She had come
, then into a bit of money, she said, and
:, she had heard of her husband LEADING
. tramp's life and going from work.
house TO workhousc. and she spent al
. her time hoping to fino him, and now
she says, L am too late, and can only
take the Dody.'
"And take the body she did tina. af,
ternoon to a pretty house she had near
=, here. She was going to take her hus.
" band to America, she said, to bury him
: in the family vault; and that's what !
believe she did do"
This was very pathetic, matron,"
, said. "You do not often see such things
. do you?"
The matron laughed scornfully ant
r said; I'VE never had such thing be,
= fore nor since. Poor lady! She was
. beautiful and no mistake and spen
her money like a queen. She felt i
, very much, coming in like that-no
a even in time TO get a word from hel
husband. one word, one kiss she says
q that would have made it so mucl
happier
| left the matron in a state of beWil
=, derment. 1t was that was bewildered
: not the matron. 1 could not make /
out. At noon Mrs. Burns was weep
ing over Burns at the workhouse, anC
4 at she was giving away his body like
/ old junk. An idea came, and laughed
! ] could not help 1t, / saw the Who'll,
n thing now. She had made a mistake
a in the man and had discovered tn
n little error after she got the corpse L
"a her house. But no! If that were so
a why had she come to me the next day
Is Why had she carried the coffin to New
, York?
e l stopped specializing and went OF
inquiring. ! found that she had takeT
d the house that the matron had told m,