The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1905-02-03
The Bush Guinea
tOriginal.l

IL LIZ oAO1t &A1CA Sdh lAlhC .
Of. Per contra. there are incidents that
would pass h general reader unno-
ticed. out would be seized upon at
once by the writer of fiction.
\ long while ago, when Bristol, Eng
land. was growing rich with the profits
of the West India trade, a set
tied in Q e town. taking lodgings near
a famous old inn called the Bush. One
day soon after his arrival in Bristol,
about the noon hour. he entered the
coffee room of the Bush. seated him
self at a table near a cheerful ire-for
it was late in the autumn-and called
for a glass of brandy and water.
Would you like to see the London
paper, sir?' asked the landlord. hand
ing him the sheet.
"Thank you" said the stranger.
Now. the act of the host was notice
able from the fact that the stranger
bore about him nc evidence of prosper
ity or that he would make u customer
for the inn worth cultivating. His
clothes We're seedy. his body was lean,
and he was bent over in a confirmed
stoop. He read the paper through. paid
siXpence for his brandy and went out.
The next day he came again at the
same hour. called for a sixpenny worth
of brandy, read the paper and depart
ed He never gave u waiter a fee, new
er took a meal in the house-indeed, his
expenditure was but siXpence q day,
which included the monopoly for the
noon hour of the paper. He was mani
testify a gentleman in very poor circum-
stances. and it was not long before he
came to be known as the poor gentle
man"
Never for d mOmen did John Weeks,
the landlord. intimate or permit any
one of his employees to intimate that
the stranger was something of a
sponge. On the contrary. Weeks would
reserve the paper for him every day
and gave out hat when the poor gen
tleman' had ii no one else was to ex-
pect ii.
Christmas came without the poor
gentleman ven having called for any
thing to eat in the house.. and Weeks
made up his mind that his guest should
have one good square meal free of
expense. The day before Christmas,
as the gentleman was departing, the
landlord stepped up to him and aid
Tomorrow being Christmas. sir, we
keep open table. and l should esteem
1t a great honor. sir. If you would par
take of our hospitality"
The poor gentleman muttered his
thanks and went out. neither accept
ing nor declining the invitation. The
landlord feared that, though he had
put the case as dellcately as possible,
he had wounded his feelings. placing
himself in the attitude of rejecting on
his DIInSt'S M rSimnnU HiS fooIinoS
were relieved. however. by the gentle
man appearing the next day punctually
at ! o'cloc in the same seedy garments
he had hitherto worn Seating him
self at the table. he partook of a dinner
with the apparent relish of one to
whom a square meal was a novelty.
not failing to do justice to the rare ale
for which the inn was noted far and
wide. After he had eaten his fill the
landlord handed him his paper. which
he read till he had exhausted every
word. then rose to leave. Weeks. who
had enjoyed the satisfaction his bene-
ficiary had shown in the one meal he
had taken in the Bush, stepped up to
him and helped him to put on his
coat. To cap the climax of his gener-
osity the kindly landlord slipped a
Christmas Gift of a guinea into the
poor gent.eman's'' hand. The re-
cipient looked at the gold piece, then
at the landlord. sighed; something like
a smile hovcred for a moment about his
lips; then. b%uttoning up his coat, he de
parted.
That was the last time the poor gen
tleman" was seen at the Bush. Wheth-
err his absence was that after such
kindness he was unwilling to ~trespass
further on the generosity of the land
lord. whether he had suddenly died or
gone to some Institution. Weeks did
not know. He only knew hat his
guest came no more. and he missed
him.
John Weeks was too generous a man
to make money. He gave a shilling's
worth for q shilling. and when the
owner of The building he occupied ad-
vertised it for sale he had no money to
buy IL, and all that he possessed, which
was the good name of his hosiery and
the business he had built up. was to pc
a dead loss.
The advertisement of the sale ap-
peared in the LOndon papers, and one
day when Weeks spirits were at the
lowest ebb ct the grim prospect before
him he received a letter from a famous
London banking house stating that If
he wished to acquire the house he DC
cupied he might draw upon them for
the purchase money.
Was the offer iona ide or a cruel
joke on the part of some IL who knew
his desires? Weeks made up his mind
that the only way to find out was to
go to london and present the letter
He lost no time in reaching b me-
tropolis and. going to the bank. sent
the letter In by a messenger with tbs
Information that the person to whom
IL was addressed was without He
was not kert long waiting. the messen-
ger conducting him into a private of