The Brunswick news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1901-1903, 1902-09-21
DYING LIKE
A MAN
BY HOWARD WILLIAMS
copyrIght. l0a. b 4. 5. RIehardson

been country tramp DeIore he reach
ed London could only be guessed at by
the butchers and fishmongers of Apple
gate market, where he took up his
headquarters. He was a man Of fifty
when he first hung about, and he had
the appearance of being Seasoned"
No one ever asked Bones any ques-
tions, and he volunteered no informa-
ton.
Some one called him Bones the first
day he appeared, and the name stuck
to him. He accepted It without re-
mark. What is the odds TO vaga-
bond whether he is called Bones or
Jones?
II may seem curious that no one ever
became sufficiently Interested I'm Bones
TO draw him out or that some day
when he longed for human sympathy
he did not volunteer his story; but, as
a matter of fact, he was only one Of
hundreds Of vagabonds slouching along
the streetK of London. Why should
any one OF higher station care who he
was or whence he came? And If he
had related his history it might have
been that Of scores of others and would
have brought neither sympathy nor
sixpence.
Bones was inoffensiye. He was also
passably honest, and when kicked out
OF the way he took it as a matter of
course. He was content with the shah
biest raiment and had not too hearty
an appetite, SO it came about that
he was allowed to hang about the mar
ket without complaint His lodgings
were in vacant buildings, coaIyards or
doorways, and the only time he got full
meals and a decent bed was wheH the
police pulled him in and he was sent
TO the workhouse.
He had put IN ten years in London,
and there was no appreeiable change in
him. He was gray haired, stoop shoul-
dered, ragged and red nosed, but he
had been that OH his arrival. Nor had
there been any change in his plans
He had come TO London 10 live out the
remainder Of his days, and he was do.
ing It. If 1t ever occurred TO him that
some day he must land In the aims
house, die and be buried as a pauper,
he said nothing about 1t and was not
worried.
One day Bones was slouching along
David street. He was not begging or
sightseeing or looking after coal to
be put In. He was simply vagabondiz-
ing and letting his feet take his body
where they would. II policeman had
made an arrest, Bones would have had
no curiosity II the fire engines had
come rafting mp, he would not have
halted and become a spectator. He had
witnessed dogfights, street rows, fires
and arrests so often that they no lon
ger held any interest
One who saw him dragging along
with his eyes on the ground would have
said that nothing but kick from a
truck horse could have aroused him,
and yet a mere tribe did the business.
OF sudden pet poodle pursued by a
gang Of boys ran up to Bones as II to
ask for protection. He picked up the
dog aud carried IT along, and, though
threatened by the hoodlums, he chung
To the canine. After walking two
blocks he came upon a carriage CON
tanning a girl about ten years old. The
poodle had escaped from the carriage
as II was driving through Willow place,
and the little one was crying pitcously
over her loss.
Bones walked directly to the vehicle
and placed the dog in her arms, and
the overjoyed girl reached out for his
hand and exclaimed:
'Oh, you good, good mani You look
ragged, but l know you're not bad. III
give you some money, and if you'll
come and see papa | know he'll find a
place for you and help you along. My
name is Minnie, and it was so good of
you, and'
But the driver shook his whip at the
vagabond and started up his horses.
For the rest of that day Bones was
only outwardly Bones. He had been
kindly addressed by human being.
He had been told that some one might
help him upward. His hand had been
shaken in gratitude, and he had been
called Il good man. There was some
thing new here to hold his thoughts
and turn over in his mind, and he was
so preoccupied that he crept to his bed
in a coalyard without having begged
the usual crust.
1T must be that am a human be-
ing after all If hadn't been, the girl
wouldn't have spoken as she did. To
have some one shake hands with me,
10 call me a good man, to thank me
for a service-I can't make it out But
it's come too late I'm too old to
change. Nothing could lift me up now,
nothing give me back what ! have
lost. There's only one thing l can do,
and that's to pray God / may die like
man-like the man l once was"
A week later though Bones heard
nothing Of it, all London thrilled with
excitement and indignation over case
of kidnapping A little girl. the daugh-
ter of a banker had been caught up
at her fathers very gate in the dusk
OF evening and carried off in carriage.
Bones never read the newspapers, and
1t was seldom that he was In the COM
pany of one who did, Had hesread or
heard all about the case. however, 1t
would only have been of passing inter
est just another crime to lengthen the
daily list.