The enterprise-recorder. (Madison, Fla.) 1908-1933, 1909-09-23


owen would have let 1t go out OF ms
hands without booking it over pretty
carefully to male sure that quarter
or a fye-cent piece hadn't got loageu
in 81. -.
TO come back to my story, when
I started home that night IL was sort
of chilly. and | thought | might as
well Put on the coat.
las said before, was about the
cams build, and my chin wniskers
were a good deal like his, and l
thought It myself, as l drove along
that II ANYBODY was to meet me they
wou,A most think II was the cap'n
come back to life again. When got
as far as the Widow Pages remem-
bersl that / had promised my wife to |
call and see how the widow was get
ting along. She had had a terrible |
sick spell, the widow had, but she'd |
got up about the house. So | pulled |
up. and got out and hitched, and |
walked up to the front door.
why, it's Mr., Bijah Neal, isn't
t?' says she. 1 thought for min
ute. as much as could be, that it was
/ Cap'n Sam owen, and / says to my
self, He's come for that envelope
must be 10" XZ q Y &--XZ@ Il
] guess | must he losing my facul-
ties, says she, and she sat down, kind
of laughing and tanning herself.
What envelope were yea speak,
ing OFF, said l.
Why, an envelope that the cap'n
left here last March, says she, the
very night before was taken down
sick And then she went on and told
me all about IT,
1T appeared, according to what
the widow said, that the capn had
package Of papers with him that he'd
been keeping in the town safe. He
had been town treasurer for good
many years, but he'd got through
that spring, and he was taking his
own papers home. And among them
he'd found an old receipt that he
said ne ought to have given to Mr.,
Page before he died, but had over
looked it, and so he had called to
leave It.
After he'd gone the widow picked
up an envelope that he'd dropped on
on the floor, and put it away, think
ing that he'd miss it and come back
for it; or, If not, she'd hail him and
give it to him the next time she saw
him passing by.
But that was the last time she
ever set eyes on the cap'n. She came
down sick the very next day, and had
double pneumonia, and before she got
, round again the cap'n had died. And
she said, That envelope never en-
tered my head again till | looked out
. the window just now and saw you
coming up the yard, looking jVst as
the cap'n did that night
" Can you find 1t now?' | asked,
not thinking yet what it might be.
And after thinking a minute she
went to her bookshelves in the old
mahogany desk and took down an old
volume Of agricultural reports, and
there was long yellow envelope
tucked between the leaves.
. THE minute l saw it, 1t came over
; me what i '"' was inside, and sure
enough, c,..s 20 look into il, it con
tanned paper that said on the back
> Last WIN and Testament of Samue
Owen
Folks had been surprised tina
= there hadn't any will been found, be
cause 1t seemed reasonable that tn
= cap'n would have made some provis
ion for Lucy, as she was almost lik
a daughter to him. But they sur
y posed that he had put it off, and pu
: 1t OF, as so many do, until 1t was to
late. But here was the will, an
. come to examine 1t, 1t gave all tn
y property to Lucy, except one WOO
u lot that the cap'n left to his nephe,
! George.
ut made quite a stir when tn
i news got round, and George took
- kind of hard. guess he'd hav
fought the will IL there had been an
. chance, but it wasn't any use. SPUR
9 Dow, that had drawn 1t up for tn
u cap'n five years before, was dead, an
., his hired man and hired girl, tha
= witnessed it, had probably never ri,
= en- it a second thought. But it wa
y all there in black and white, and
c went through probate court ali right
But the Widow Page always stuc
:, to 1t that Il might have stayed in thf
y book till doomsday, for all she'd eve
!, thought of it, If it hadn't been fo
- seeing me that night in the cap'n
u buffalo coat.
$50 my bidding off that old Goa
=, that l didn't anyways want was
" pretty lucky thing for I,ncv