Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1908-12-04
Struggle to Throw
W Off an Influence.

ment. His wife was exactly the oppo-
site. She was not bright but possess
ed an enormous amount of horse
sense" For twenty years she Eept her
husband on the track and when he
showed signs of 'breaking' would
speak to him in no uncertain tone,
pull strong on the curb and now and
then give him sharp cut with the
whip. The consequence was that Here
ford, being smart, by the time he was
forty had secured competency.
Now, the thing without which sue
cess is not to be attained is often I'M
recognizable, especially by the achiev-
er. Hereford attributed it in his case
to his talents, arguing that if he were
not pulled back by his wife he would
be q millionaire. His most intimate
friends knew that his wife had put
those talents to their proper use and
prevented his wasting them. Perhaps
II any of them had told him this it
might have neutraliZed this story. Per
haps he would have received the in
formation as false. The latter suppo-
sition is the more probable.
One day Hereford disappeared. 1t
was found that he had taken $4,000
and left 100000 for his wife, with no
explanation whatever. This is the
most practical thing he had ever done
without her assistance. Almost any
one would pronounce the money pref
arabie to the explanation. But the act
lilo yyoS
mixture of the sublime and the ridicu-
lous
He hadn't been gone long before his
wife received a letter from an Ameri-
can gentleman In Constantinople
named Tarbox stating that Hereford
had died there. He had left instruc-
tons with Tarbox to send what money
he had leit-some $10.000-aud his in
Generated remains to his wife. Her
friends said that so long as he had sent
the money he needn't have troubled
himself about the ashes. Mrs. Here
ford deposited the former i'll bank and
wept over the latter When it came
to sentiment she had her weaknesses
the most pronounced of which was
sincere affection fer Elisha Hereford
She was too sensible to keep her hus-
bands dust in her own house, SO she
spent $100 on Il marble tomb, placed
| it in a cemetery and locked the dust
In it. Not that the 500 represented
her love for her dead husband. The
tomb was plenty large to contain the
| ashes, and Mrs. Hereford's sentiment
never ran away with her instinct of
| economy.
Before proceeding any further with
this story l wish to say that there is
feature in it that won't be believed.
You can invent lot of imaginary non
sense, and it will be gulped down, but
give people a real coincidence such as
happens every day and they will laugh
at you. 1 am sure, however, that any
one who knows Elisha Hereford on
hearing what / refer to would say,
THAT'S just like him for all the world"
AS I have said, Mrs. Hereford was
prone to indulge a sentimental sorrow
so long as it was not expensive. She
went once week to the cemetery, took
out the urn, busted it, probably because
she had been used to periodically dust
the marble clock on her mantel at
home, wept over 1t and put 1t back.
One day just after having done the
busting she turned the key and with
bowed head was mutely offering a
prayer for the repose Of her husbands
soul when she was aroused by a crash.
1t seemed she had heard some wood
en- structure knocked into kindling
wood Starting up, there in lot not
a hundred yards from her she saw a
promiscuous mass of slender timbers
jumbled with some light woven tex
ture. From beneath it man strug
gled to free himself and after doing so
stood upon his feet. The widow went
toward the fragments, and when the
mans head appeared above the wreck
age she caught at an iron rail inclos-
ing burial lot.
| She saw him whose ashes she had
been weeping over.
| "Well," he exclaimed petulantly, sur
| veying the wreck, ''it's all up, and Pm
glad Of it."
| Mrs. Hereford, who saw a medium
for wasted money, breathed hard.
| elisha" she said sternly, what
foolishness have you been guilty Of
| this time?"
81 own up, my dear 1t was this
way: l heard of all these fellows try
ing aeroplanes, and l had a plan that
wanted to try myself. | knew you
would never consent to spending the
money to build it. so / concluded to
| take the job into my own hands, first
eliminating you from the experiment.
Jim Twinkler was going abroad. and l
charged him to take care of you from
there under an assumed name, telling
| him what to say and what to send.
This left me $4,000 with which to-
| "Elishap'
"My dear"
"Have you sunk $4,000 in that-that
heapT'
| give sunk $4,000"
| where is the rest"
| "In bank
| "You come right home with me and
draw me a check for it. I was a fool
not to foresee something like this.
Never again will you have a dollar
under your own control. I've got the
money you left, and when l get that
you haven't thrown away We'll be
safe"
| Mrs. Hereford sold the tomb and the
urn at good profit. She secured a
check for what money her husband
had not sunk on the aeroplane, and
| from that time to the present she has
held the purse strings to the family
| capital. THERESA c. HOLT
chnconnoLn e 1h;n D.,