The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1905-04-20
The Bush Guinea
lOriginal.,

4
incident are apt to remark, What Al
excellent story that would make.
whereas there may not be in it a singl
element the story teller can make US
OF. Per contra. there are incidents tha
would pass the general reader unno
ticed, but would be seized upon a
once by the writer of fiction.
a long while ago, when Bristol. Eng
land, was growing rich with the profit
of the West India trade, a stranger set
tied in the town. taking lodgings neal
a famous old inn calJcd the Bush. On,
day soon after BIS arrival in Bristol
about the noon hour, he entered the
coffee room of ihe Bush, seated him
self at a table ear a cheerful fire-fol
it was late in tie autumn-and called
for 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 no evidence of prosper
ity CT that be would make 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 q waiter a fee. new
or took a meal in the house-indeed. his
expenditure was but sixpence a day.
which included the monopoly for the
noon hour Of the paper He was mani
festly gentleman in very poor circum-
stances, and it was not long before he
came to be known as the poor gentle
man
Never for a moment 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 that when the poor gen
tleman" had it no one else was to ex-
pect it
Christmas came without the poor
gentleman" even 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 said:
Tomorrow being Christmas. sir. we
Keep open table, and I should esteem
It 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 deIicately as possible,
he had wounded his feelings. placing
himself in the attitude of rejecting on
his guests parsimOny. His feelings
we're relieved however. by the gentle
man appearing the next day punctually
1t o'clock in the same seedy garments
he had hitherto worn. Seating him
3elf at the table, he partook of a dinner
with the apparent relish of one to
whom a square meal was a novelty,
lot failing to do justice to the rare ale
'or which the inn was noted far and
vide. 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
lad enjoyed the satisfaction his bene
iciary had shown in the one meal he
had taken in the Bush, stepped up to
linn and helped him TO put on his
,oat To cap the climax of his gener-
)Sity the kindly landlord slipped
Christmas gift Of a guinea into the
poor gentleman's" hand The re-
ipient looked at the gold piece, then
It the landlord, sighed: something like
smile lowered for moment about his
Ups; then, buttOning up his coat, he de
parted.
That was the last time the poor gen
leman" was seen at the Bush. Wheth-
II his absence was that after such
he was unwilling to trespass
'urther on the generosity Of the land
ord. WHITTIER he had suddenly died or
zone to some institution, Weeks did |
lot know. He only knew that his
,uest came no more. and he missed /
lin.
John Weeks was too generous a man |
o make money. He gave a shilling's |
worth for 4 shilling. and when the |
'wner of the building he occupied adj |
-ertised it for sale be had no money to |
Wy it, and all that he possessed. which |
vas the good name of his hosiery and /
he business he had built up, was to be
dead loss
The advertisement OF the sale ap- /
feared in the London papers, and one
lay when Weeks spirits were at the |
ovest ebb at the grim prospect before
i'm he received q letter from a famous
london banking house stating that if +
e wished TO acquire the house he oc-
upied he might draw upon them for
be purchase money.
Was the offer bona fide or a cruel
oke on the part of some one who knew
is desires? Weeks made up his mind
hat the only way to find out was to
0 to London and present the letter. t