The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1905-08-01

Many a one passing by the Gods
Gre looks over the fence, sees this
inscription and wonders what it means.
There are but two who know, Susie
n heaven and l o earth-I. who keep
he grave green M train the flowers
growing over it: /. the dead she touch
I'D and to whom she impaired life.
When L asked of the others of our
)ver Susie's grave they assented. know
ing the influence she had had over me.
When they saw the Inscription l had
placed on 1t they wondered. No one
asked me what 1t meant. leaving it for
me t. tell. But | never told.
As q boy | was wild aud untamable
from the day when Susie. two years
my senior. took me by the hand and
led ME to school | had brothers n
other sisters, but none of them would
mother trust me with save Susie-Su
sic. all gentleneSs and amiability. When
I was in a lit of passion and the Othet-
only goaded me by their disapprovin"
~OIOS SUSIE Oulu put lcT III aODIi
me-; l would burst into tears and prom
ise her never to be bad again. Had /
been left solely to her influence | NIGH.
have passed the danger u age in safe
ty. But this could not be. My fathei
was a stern man and believed that To
humor me would ruin me. He litt!,
knew that to punish me would ruin
me. His influence upon me was d
rectly contrary to that of Susie. When
/ was fourteen he thrashed me .unmer-
cifully. and ran away.
This was the last / saw of my fam
lily for years. They changed their resi-
dence several times from one town to
another. while all towns were my resi-
dence. There was in me a certain rest
~lessness that prevented my working
at any one thing for long. / was made
for adventure. IL when l ran away
from home l had been old enough ]
would have enlisted for a soldier, and
In that field l might nave found some
thing ~con.enial. But by the time !
had come to h enlistment 6 l was
not fitted for anything honest. and
when l was twenty l was u burglar.
For II veal l piled my vocation with
out being caught. 1 shall never be
caught now for 1 shall never commit
another burglary.
The end of my hazardous and dishon-
est work came In this wise: One night
1 entered Ii house standing by itself. so
that l was in NO danger from neigh
bors. l noticed on the doorknob some
white flowers. What they meant L did
not know. l had never seen anything
but Grape used to mark the presence OF
the dead. 1t was ummer when flow
ers are abundant, and l supposed these
had been thrown over the doorknob as
the most convenient place to hang
them. Having gained an entrance. |
through he hall to the kitchen,
then into the dining room. where |
looked into the sideboard, hoping to
N the silver. Not finding any. Invent
into the parlor.
There was q light. turned low. in the
hall ON the ground floor, and l worked
by this alone, carrying my dark Ian
tern under my shirt. Turning out the
hall light, l crept upstairs. to find an
other light in the hall above. This, aft
er determining the position of the doors,
| turned out also. then entered u rear
bedroom. Finding nothing Of value
there. l passed through an open door
to an adjoining oOm in which there
was not a ray of light. Walking very
slowly. with my hands before me for
protection, l came in the center of the
oom against what ] thought, to be 8
table. Feeling my way around 1t. I
discovered that 1t was too narrow for
q table, being only about two feet wide.
though Ii was more han five feet long.
Besides, 1t was much deeper han the
body of any ordinary table even with a
dra wer In 1t. and underneath there
were but two supports. one at each
end. Puzzled to know what 1t was. ]
drew my dirk lantern.
I started back In horror. The light
on an oval space, filed with glass.
which was the ashen face
Of q corpse. But my horror was turn
. to that which was ten thousand times
than horror at recognizing the
features Of my sister Susie.
How l got out of the house without
waking the, family l do o know. I
only remember that 1 found myself I'm
the street. or. rather. the road, on the
verge OF insanity. Nor do l remember
I passed the time between NV
exit and the mex afternoon, when /
suddenly awoke as from aAtrance and
found myself in front of the house i
bad Intended to rob- A hearse was