The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-12-29
JOHN HAMPTON'S BARREL
BY CYRUS DERIcKsoN

name at intervals of two or three minutes.
The widow sent him freshly killed
chicken and tumbler Of currant jell and
hoped he would soon recover John
chuckled as he realized that he had made
fair start on the new program. At the
end OF week he limped over to receive
her sympathies and congratulations, and
the future looked rosy for him. Two
weeks later he was in bed again. AS told
to the widow, he had slid off the roof OF
his barn and struck the earth with a thud
that was heard for a mile around. He
had cried out her name when falling, and
her name was the first word to pass his
lips when he finally opened his eyes.
During the week John Hampton was in
bed he was the recipient of several mes
sages of coincidence and several dishes
prepared by the widows own hands, and
when he got ont again he figured that his
chances had improved SO per cent En-
couraged by this feeling he limped over
to the widow Davis and again asked for
her hand and heart. but again he was
turned down. She was sorry for him, and
she hoped he would find some one to love
him. but she felt that the best she could
do was to be sister to him 1t wasn't
a lightning-rod man, but a sewing ma
chine agent, 10 whom John Hampton
turned for advice or this second occa-
sion, and he couldn't have done better.
why, it's as easy as rolling off a log"
replied the man when the facts were in
his possession.
During the next four days the Widow
Davis heard various reports concerning
the man for whom she had a sfsterly at
lection. He looked and acted strangely,
and his friends feared suicide; he had
given an order to the village cooper for
big barrel. and would not explain its
intended use.
One dayS things cap,e to Jo1,,,
Hampton drove up to the widows house
with his barrel in the wagon. 1t was an
oyergroWn, swell-front barrel-a barrel
big enough to furnish shelter to a yearl-
ing calf. The slaves had been painted
blue and the heads red, and it looked as
If it had just escaped from circus. The
widow glanced from the barrel to John
and paled little. If the barrel looked
"circusy'' John looked desperate, and she
realized that the two were connected in
some desperate enterprise. ,.-.
"Widder Davis" began the man as he
looked straight in to her eyes. my love
has been rejected. There is nothing left
for me but death. and I am going to die
like man.
II wouldn't" she replied as she
looked at the barrel and wondered what
part it was to play in the tragedy.
But / will. I am going to Niagara
Falls. When I get there I am going TO
be barre1led up and sent over the falls to
my, death. There will be thousands : to
ask why I want to die. When enter that
barrel your name shall be on my lips. /
shall remember the custard pie, the cur
rant jell the spring chicken and the rice
pudding, and bless you for your kindness.
May hope that you will think of me when
I am f1oa ting around
John had repeated this little speech a
hundred times over during the last two
days, and he got it off without a break.
1t touched the widows heart, just as the
sewing machine agent said it would. She
blushed and looked this way and that.
and finally said:
Il was wanting vinegar barrel this
fall. and meant to ask you to get me one
next time you went to town.
"a dead man can't be hunting up vine
gar barrels"
But a live one can replied the widow
with a smile Il think, john think
What do YOU think. Lucy?'
II think you'd better roll that barrel I'M
der the wagon shed and leave it here.
like the color of it, and I'm sure it will
hold vinegar enough to last us two or
three years. -. ...-
'Us!" exclaimed John as he clambered
out of the wagon.
Did I say lis Well. We'll have to let it
go at that AS I was saying, it's very
nice barrel and when / think of it going
over Niagara Falls to be all smashed up
and lost, of course
/ "Why, of course" said the sewing ma
chine man when he came that way again.