The Press., 1913-04-16

knives and forks that could not be ust.fl
 to conceal q treasure went forssllo. h
 ing. Mrs. Spellmeyer regretted t:i,n
 she had spent her $25, for she coz I have bought lots of things she waHted for a song. But sofas, bureaus ald
 desks with locked drawers brous i'i
 fabulous prices. As soon as an arti l. was knocked down to bidder 1t Was torn to pieces in the hope of finding I sum Of money, stocks, bonds or jew elry.
 Finally some kitchen stores were put up and among other things, cake of
 maple sugar. Mrs. Spellmeyer by fhis
 time began to suspect that the de
 ceased had intended to favor her. .isut she could scrape together only z cen E
 of the money provided to secure stlh'
 sugar. She made the first bid on it she made on anything, and; this a:-
 tracting attention, the cake was soon
 up to $1O, so she lost 1t.
 Meanwhile there was a smashing and a tearing to pieces of all sorts of articles as fast as they were bought.
 The sale was over without any large sum being discovered, though these who had made purchases were still pulling to pieces what they had bought One old lady who had bought n bed had ripped the ticking of the mattress and was throwing the contents aside as a ship throws the waves from her bow. A man who had purchased m iron box Oocked and no key) was drlil- ing hole in it. with view to insert ing an explosive and blowing 1t onen. A boy was chopping to piece bureau tEe drawers of which could not be re- moved in any other way. A young girl added to the din by trying to blow bank bills out of a comets piston. At the moment some one stove in the head of drum.
 The auctiOneer, standing on the plat form with a bit of paper in his hand. rapped with his gavel. When he h.:d secured attention he began to speak.
 Ladies and gentlemen, the intention of the deceased in ordering this sale has been discovered. One of the dr. ticles sold, cake of maple sugar, was broken apart and this paper found ! property, real and personal, to Laura Spellmeyer, nee Maryweather.'
 There was a hush for a moment, fol lowed by a howl of disappointed rage The auctioneer rapped and cried above the din, els Laura SpelImeyer pres ent?''
 The widow, not knowing whether she was on her heels or her head, stood up and said she was the party called for. A sleek looking gentleman ud vanced toward her and stated that he had been the deceased's attorney anI 1 had the care of the property. He had forwarded to her the mysterious letter she had received. 1t had been left with | him by tue teStator some time before his death.
 A crowd gathered round the widow, mostly of those who had ex | pected little or nothing. to congratulate l her. To their questions as to her con l nection to the deceased she replied that | she had never heard of him, whereupon l the attorney said that the testator had told him the reason for willing his | as he did.
 In all his life he had received but, one | offer of purely disinterested kindness. When journeying to the city a penni- | less boy he had met girl who offered him i've dollar bill she had just re: :eived for a birthday gift. That girl | le made his heir.
 Mrs. Spellmeyer tried to remember he incident, but failed It had oc- :urred m6ny years before, when she vas a child, and 1t had passet out Of Ter memory.
 She was receiving congratulations, Ter face wre0thed in smiles. when the awyer asked her if she knew how much money she had inherited.
 'La' sakes," she exclaimed, "I never bought of that!'
 Guess
 "A thousand dollars"
 "A thousand dollars! It's more than ! million"
 "Oh. my goodness gracious! won Ter how came to deserve such treat nent of my heavenly father"
 ''Inasmuch as ye did 1t unto one of he least of these ye did it unto the ,1ng."
 In the collection plate in Mrs. Mary veather's congregation the next day vas an Easter Offenng of $1OO.OOO for ] new church and another $1OO,OOO for ID endowment. This was only the be dnning of the widows gifts. She eemed to take as much pleasure in her money as the man from whom she inherited 1t had taken in 1t. The only smart thing she yer said was in this connection:
 ''The Lord needs two people to dis 'ense benefactions-one to get money Ogether, another to scatter it."