Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1907-09-10
MY LONG
CHERISHED TRIP.
fOriginail

poor and with no expectations there
was no prospect of my wish ever being |
gratified. When was fifteen years |
old began to save money for the pur-
pose and by the time I was twenty |
two had a sufficient amount to enable
me to purchase a second class passage |
out and back and remain abroad elk
weeks. My friends and relatives-l
had no parents-advlsed me to put my
savings out at interest rather than
spend them In any such fashion, but l
replied that had saved them for a
purpose, would not have saved them
without the purpose and did not be
lieve in such a wea thercock course as
they advised Besides, maintained
| that fate did more for persons who
( were floating on the surface than for
those underneath and out Of sight,
whereupon they assumed that l hoped
| to meet some rich man who would
marry me- This was unkind, for l am
and was very plain.
was not TO be deferred by sneers
and sailed with the early summer he
gira. We had a rough passage, and
the person with whom l was obliged
to room, woman of fifty, was not
only seasick, but really ILL., There was
no one but me to look after her, and
must either do so or see her suffer
without attention. 1 gathered from
what she told me that she was going
abroad for her health and had no def
mite plans for travel. When we reach
ed port she begged me TO let her go
where l went | told her frankly that
I had counted on my trip from child
hood, had been seven years in saving
the few hundred dollars required to
make it, and to spend my time taking
care of a sick woman who evidently
had no money TO purchase attendance
and comforts would be a terrible sac
riice. but when we came to leave the
steamer the poor woman was so desc
late that | hadn't the heart to leave
her alone l took her with me to Lon
don and to the same apartment house.
The result Of this move was that, In
stead of seeing the sights Of the Brit
ish capital, the time | had laid out for
|
that was her name-and the only way
I could get out was to hire cab and
take her with me. inferred that she
could not afford the expense, for she
never offered to pay the fare. Finally,
desiring to go to Paris, proposed that
she should go to hospital. This she
refused to do, but said she had rela-
tive in Paris and if would take her
there she would not ask me to do any
thing more for her. AS 1 was going to
Paris it was impossible for me to re
fuse to allow her to go on the same
train. So I consented and, making
virtue Of necessity, nursed her all the
way.
The day after we arrived she gave
I me her relatives address, and | called
at the house. The relative had gone
away from there and had left no ad
dress. l went back to our apartment
and found Miss Tiff in great agony.
called for a doctor, who pronounced
her a very sick woman who would
likely need a physician for a long pc
Rod, and before he would do anything
for her compelled me to pay his bill OF
q large portion of it in advance. Miss
Tiff was too i'll to consult in the mat
ter, and--well, took what had saved
for my continental trip and gave it tC
a French doctor I never had seen be
fore In payment for services he had
not yet rendered to a person who was
nothing whatever to me-
The only convenient thing Miss Tiff
did was to die in time to enable me
to go home in accordance with my
original plan. Before her death she
was in such condition that the doctor
was enabled to tell her that she would
die and she had better settle her af
fairs If she had any affairs to settle
She sent for a notary, and when he
withdrew he handed me a sealed en-
velope, saying that it was her last will
and | was to take it to America.
asked him If she had mentioned
any payment out of what she had
willed to return money 1 had spent on
her, and he said that she had written
the will herself and he had not seen
anything but the signature. 1t had
been executed while l was out getting
a change of air, and the witnesses had
been called on from adjoining apart
ments.
l had asked Miss Tiff what she wish
ed done with her body, and she said
"her old carcass wasn't worth taking to
America" and 1 could put it anywhere
liked l would find money for the
purpose in her trunk. found 500,
which enabled me to attend to the
burial on the very cheapest plan.
When reached home / was asham.
ed to tell how l had been deprived Of
what / had so long saved and hoped
for My friends rallied me on not hav-
ing met rich man to marry me, some
of them saying facetiously that they
expected l would at least catch duke
/ avoided them as much as possible
and refused to talk of my trip when
was obliged to meet them.
On the back of the envelope contain