The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1900-02-16
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49,, OF JASPER GREEN ~

Dul Wiidl flp y Ou Mfllll us ~ tO VIII
your ashes. uncle?" his nephew IIar-
old would inquire do you expect
us TO Keep them in marble urn in the
front parlor?
"Aly ashes Jasper would cry, with
dramatic gesticulation. Scatter them
to the four winds of heaven Let them
go to the east, the west The north and
the south What care . about my
ashes"
Please don't talk about your ashes
this evening. Jasper" his sister-in-law
would plead TT isn't at all pleasant
to me to think of you rs being thrown
to the four winds of heaven"
But, Sarah my dear you know
have always been Il travelling man." he
was respond.
He had in fact known the dusty
ways of the commercial Traveller for 20
years and had shown sufficient I'M
selfishness to remain a bachelor He
made his brothers house his home
and acted the role of providence to his
young nephews His sistcr-in-la was
glad she had married into his family
casper" she once said to him. IF
you would take life more seriously.
wouldn't have word Of fault to find
with you. You ought to be thinking of
marriage and of laying up for old age
and of attaining Some sort Of posi-
ton in the community"
MY goodness. Sarah, How can you
think Of 50 many terrible things at
once? Now. YOU Just content yourself
my dear sister The life live suits me
we'll | enjoy doing the Arab act
folding my tent and silently stealing
away and all that sort of thing. If
choose to think the crematory at Phila-
delphia more interesting institution
than a theater, that is matter OF
taste. you know
1t was evident that his amiable sis
ter-in-aw in her efforts to convention
alize him would have her trouble for
that hearing casper speak with fro
quency of the crcmatorY at Philadel-
phia, she should forever associate the
city with that concern. She laughed
about it to her husband one day when
she was doing up faded ecru dress
which She intended sending 10 Phila-
delphia to be dyed brown.
'.Jasper would he sure to address
this TO the crematory.'' she said as she
tied up the bundle.
1t was a fortnight after this that
word came. most suddenly. that he was
dead. He who had lungs Of astonish-
ing expansion, a climbing good heart
and an ostricllikc digestion ana who
seemed fitted to endure life's viciSsi-
tudes to the extreme limit of mans
time had gone Off with hideous
promptitude at tho attack Of some
microscopcal beast Of prey an I'M
tanned germ from the jungle OF disease
It Glanced that his brother was at
the extreme Of the continent at san
Francisco, AS for his devoted sisters
in-law. Sarah Green. she would have
Fastened on the sacred GRAND Of TAX
ing his remains TO Philadelphia. ac-
cording to his oft expressed desire but |
seriously sick child kept her at home
She was forced to give directions by |
telegraph and TO mourn him with deep
sincerity nj home, Also She awaited |
Homecoming of that little box which |
would contain the ashes of the once
robust, jocund. eccentric. loyable man. |
an hour ago q powerful entity.
Scatter my ashes to the four winds |
of heaven" he had directed. But
Sarah Green was not inclined to in
dulge him to that extent living or
dead. | would have seemed impious
to her. She determined that the little !
box, when il came should be laid |
away with Christian ceremonies in the |
cemetery with the dead Greens.
In course Of time il came-the eX
pected box and rested over night on a
table sucwn With lilies of the valley.
The next morning it was taken on Il
black draped cushion to the cemetery
and in the presence of many fearful
friends dropped into the receptive and
conccaling earth. Then with n sense
of duty well performed Sarah Green
returned to her ordinary life, life
tinged with a distinct sorrow because
of good friend gone,
A week later box reached her from
Philadelphia.
There" she said, with veXation. sis
that brown Grape of mine that had
dyed, Its really useless to me, now
that have put on mourning for poor
Jasper
She undid the wrappings and beheld
a little cubical box neatly labeled:
Jasper Green. Died Aug 10, 1895"
The meaning of this hardly reached
her bewlderod senses. With trembling
hands she opened the receptacle With
in was handful Of delicate and in
nocuous ashes.
She stared long Then laughter seiz-
ed her like a curse.
81 have buried my old brown dress.
said She
She was Il woman of resources and of
determination, At dead of night she
and the sexton made the transfer of
boxes. And safe back home she made
a crematory of her own and incinerat
ed the brown dress in her furnace. and
while she wept she laughed too and
it seemed to her that there in the still
of the night She heard the sardonlc
laughter of Jasper Green mingled with
her own hysterical mirth.- Chicago
Tribune
Civic Jealousy.
Bleeckerstreet They say 1000 people
have mysteriously disappeared in Phil
.1delphia during the last year