The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1904-02-12

unWtlCOme message II seemed Indl
we could not FIX up anything that
would be satisfactory. So we de-
cided to go see him again and we
went and begged him to come with
me and see her, as it would make
her worse to go tell her he would
not come. But he would not go and
said it was best that they never see
each other any more aud then |
went back and told her he would
not come. Sic said she had lived
long enough, she did not want to
get we'll or live any longer if George
cared nothing for her, and contin-
ued to grow weaker and worse until
she died and was buried, n d
George did not so much as attend
the burial. There was great deal
of gossip concei ming his actions
and the society of the vicinity in
which he was a leader literally
turned him adrift His company
was no longer sought for by the
young or old; he soon felt the sting
of public condemnation as well as
that of his own guilty conscience
and began to arrange for his de-
parture, where he resolved to lead
different life and be truer man
More than thirty years h ave
passed and gone, al d time had al
most obliterated the recollection of
George and Lucy and the incident
almost forgotten, when one day we
were travelling up in old Kentucky,
and being tired and worried we
halted at what seemed to be the
residence of happy, prosperous
farmer and asked to stay over night.
The lady said | could stay, but her
husband was sick and l would have
to see to the care of my own team.
put up my team and asked the
boys, who showed and helped me,
what was their fathers name, and
when they told me the name l at
once became curious TO know some
thing of the man and where he was
from, tor his name brought back the
memory OF my boyhood days and
the fond recollection of once high
ly appreciated friend by the same
name. In quizzing the bows | soon
learned that their father was Just
getting over two weeks drunk,
and that he was in the habit of
taking those spells several times
each year, which fully convinced
me of my mistaken idea of it being
my old friend, for he did rot drink
when knew him. After supper
we were invited into the family
room, where we were not long max
ing the discovery that this was the
same George whose friendship we
once so fondly cherished and who at
one time was the society leader in
the vicinity known as the Upper
Big Bottom, in Humphreys county,
Tenn. He was now so he could sit
up and when told him whom was,
he grasped both OF my hands and
cried like whipped child, and in
my experience j never received as
warm and welcome treatment from
anyone from the earliest of our re-
collection down to this day. In the
course of our conversation we ma
turally drifted back to the days of
our boyhood and talked of the
happy scenes, faces and incidents
of those happy days. Yet in our
conversation neither of us men,
toned the name of Lucy and before
leaving next morning compli-
mented him on his financial success
and for having such pleasant wife
and nice children and remarked
that he ought to be both proud and
happy as he had been truly blessed.
When to our surprise he completely
broke down and wept until we al
most wished we had never happened
to stay with him or made ourselves
known to him, but when he got so
he could talk again he said, "Do
you remember Lucy, the girl / use
to visit who lived in Big Bottom?"
[ told him / did and he continued, :
'Do you remember me refusing to
70 to see her when she was sick Z
and sent for me, and how you
begged and plead with me to go see
Ter and | would not? Do you re-
when she found | would
lot come she said she had lived |
ong enough and did not want to
ret well if l wouldn't come and see {
ler, and gradually grew worse un-
il she died and was buried and / 8