Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-03-14
LUXURIOUS DYING foR SIS.
An IGcident Of the Italian Colony s~
New York.

The Italian colony Of New York sup
plies this auecdote to a paper in The
Century. entitled "Ilumor and Pathos OF
the Savings Bank"
An old Italian street vender, a con-
sumpIive, feeling that his end was draw
ing near prepared scheme for ending
his days in comfort. Observe the ongi'
nality and dclcacy of the scheme that
he successfully worked on Little Italy.
He had only $IJ in the bank, and of this
he drew $50 and redepOSited it in a few
days He drew it again and again re-
deuosited it, continuing the operation at
brief intervals until on the credit side OF
his passbook he had entries of all these
various sans footing up $500 and on the
opposite page drafts to the amount Of
| about $3.50 balance So After careful
ly cutting out the page showing the
amounts drawn and leaving the long line
of deposits he took to his bed and called
in his friends. He was dying. They
could see that, the old man told them.
| They were good fellows, and he loved
them all and he wished Pedro, the ba-
mana peddler. and good Giovanni, the
hootblack. and Arturo, the wine seller, to
know how affcctionately he regarded
them What he had to leave tfem was
not much. Would Edgardo. good old
Edgardo. kindly find between The Dat-
trcss and what used to be the springs his
| baukbook? Yes: that was 1T. Take it
to the window and tell him how much
was there. Eight hundred? All, well,
| thanks to God that it was so much; but,
oh, that il were more for such good fel-
lows as they.
Dottore Bartollo had told him that he
might live three months, till spring; would
his good friends put back his book under
the mattress. and when he was gOne-nO,
they mustn't cry-would they take it up
to the bank, draw the amount and divide
it between them? Meanwhile, as his low
ing friends of the present, his heirs in the
future, would they kindly attend to his
little wants?
Would they? Did they? That old fell
low was fed on the fat of the land while
he lay there in bed. He drank more Chi
anti in a week than he had swallowed in
five years. 1t was even binted by some
that Arturo the wine seller, was hasten
ing the end by the vile Chianti that he
constantly produced from his stock, while
the pushCart man was so generous OF un-
ripe bananas for the siclroOm that there
was division of opinion in Mulberry
street as to whether he was cheering his
friends finale with fruit or endeavoring
to complicate consumption with other
ills.
At last he swallowed his last fagon OF
Chianti, and though Little Italy made a
decent pretense of sorrow, it was really
en- fete-at last the $500 was to be drawn.
| was in the bank when the principals, in
their holiday clothes and with a few cho-
sen friends, arrived. They stated the case
and asked for the amount, from which
the pushcart man was to receive some
$40 for fruit the wine seller 500 and the
others various sums invested for the inva-
lid and his funeral leaving some $500 as
the dividend" | need not describe the
small sized riot that followed when the
abstraction of the pages from one side OF
the book was explained to the swearing
mourners and n tender was made to them
of the SIS, all that the deceased had in
bank.