St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-07-05
THE CORPSE SAT UP.
Singular Exposure of Novel Method
of Making . Living Without
Working,

A clergyman whose field is in
neighborhood where cases of desti-
tuition are not unusual, assured
reporter that not one in ten of those
who applied to him for assistance
proved worthy upon Investigation,
says the New York Mail and Express.
Among the incidents of pretended
misfortune which he related, the fol-
lowing was the most remarkable:
"a couple of strange children"
said he, ''came to the Sunday school
connected with church in another
city, where 1 am well acquainted.
They were put into a class and told
the woman who was their teacher
that they were very poor. Their APP
pearance agreed with their words.
and, taking their address, she made
up her mind to do something for
them. Before she had time to call.
demanded her immediate interest in
their behalf. They went to her home
and with tears announced that their
father had died and their mother
did not know where to get money
with which to bury him. Incidental
ly they mentioned that they had moth
ing to eat in the house and were hun
cry.
Blaming herself for not having
visited this afflicted family sooner.
the teacher atoned for her neglect
by feeding the children and sending
them home with a basket full of
good things. Then she sought two
women of the aid society who con-
stituted a standing committee to
look out for the destitute in the par
ish and laid the case before them.
They took up hasty contribution
from the church women in the neigh
borhood and repaired at once to the
home of suffering, the teacher con-
tinuing the work Of soliciting aid for
the funeral expenses.
"When the committee reached the
address given they found the fam
lily occupying two plainly furnishd
rooms. The door was opened to
them by rather coarse woman who
had an apron at her eyes as if weep
ing. The children also began crying
when they came in. They comforted
the family, gave the woman the
money they had and promised to do
what more they could to relieve her
distress. The woman said that the
coffin in which her husband lay was
not paid for and that it would take
$40 to bury him.. They babe her not
to worry about that. The woman
invited her visitors to enter the front
room to look at the body. They
went with her to the door of dark
ened room. At the further end of
the room was plain black casket in
which lay the body of man. The
visitors did not advance beyond the
doorway.
ION their way home one Of the wom-
en-, who told the incident afterward
to my wife, expressed curious
feeling of skepticism. She was i'm
PEELED to go back for reasons that
she could not analyze. Her COM
rades tried to dissuade her, but she
was determined, and at length both
retraced their steps. They entered
the abode of poverty without knock
ing. The living room was deserted.
Feeling some delicacy about enter
ing the chamber of death, they nat
urally made no noise as they pushed
open the parlor door, which was
ajar. The sight that met their eyes
made them give little scream. The
corpse was sitting up in the coffin
eating some of the very food that
day provided, and in front of him
on the lid of the casket was the
money the women Of the church had
contributed for his widow which
he was counting over with great
content.
"The surprise of the supposed
dead man was at least as great az