The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1916-12-29

Mrs. Dilber was next. Sheets
and towels, little wearing APP
parel, two old-fashioned silver tea
spoons. pair of sugar tongs, and
a few boots. Her account was
stated on the wall in the same
manner.
And now undo my bundle,
Joe," said the first woman.
Joe went down on his knees for
the greater convenience of open
ing it. and having unfastened a
great many knots, dragged out a
large and heavy roll of some dark
stuff.
What do you call this?" said
Joe. BED curtains"
"Ah?" returned the woman,
laughing and leaning forward on
her crossed arms. Bed ourtains!"
You don't mean to say you
took 'em down, rings and all, with
him lying there?" said Joe.
Eyes, l do" replied the woman.
why not?"
You were born to make your
fortune" said Joe, land you'll GER
tainly do It,"
II certainly shan't hold my
hand, when | can get anything in
it by reaching 1t out, for the sake
of such a man as he was, prom
Use you, Joe," returned the woman
coolly Don't drop that oil upon
the blankets, now!"
His blankets?" asked Joe.
Whose else do you think re-
piled the woman. "He isn't likely
to take cold without 'em, l dare
say"
Scrooge listened to this dia-
logue in horror.
"Ha, hal" laughed the same
woman, when Old Joe, producing
a flannel bag with money in It.,
told out their several gains on the
ground. This is the end of it.,
you see! He frightened every
one away from him when he was
alive, to profit us when he was
dead! Ha, ha, hal"
Spirit" said Scrooge, shudder-
ing from head to foot. II see,
see. The case of this unhappy
man might be my own. My life
tends that way now. Merciful
Heaven, what is this!"
He recoiled in terror, for the
scene had changed, and now he
almost touched a bed, a bare. I'M
curtained bed. on which, beneath
a ragged sheet, there lay a some
thing, covered up, which, though
it was dumb, announced itself in
awful language.
A pale light, rising in the outer
air, fell straight upon the bed,
and on It, plundered and bereft,
unmatched, unwept, uncared for,
was the body of this man.
III there is any person in the
town who feels emotion caused by
this mans DEATH" said Scrooge.
quite agonized. "show that person
to me, Spirit, beseech you!"
The Phantom spread its dark
robe before him for a moment,
like q wing; and withdrawing 1t,
revealed room by daylight,
where mother and her children
were.
She was expecting someone, and
with anxious eagerness, for she
walked up and down the room,
started at every sound, looked out
from the window, glanced at the
clock.
At length the long-expected
knock was heard. She hurried to
the door. and met her husband, a
man whose face was careworn and
depressed, though he was young.
There was a remarkable express
sion in 1t now; a kind of serious
delight of which he felt ashamed,
and which he struggled to repress.
He sat down to the dinner that
had been boarding for him by the
fire, and and when she asked him
family what news he appeared en-
barrassed how to answer.
rs it good?" she said, cor
bad?"
Bad" he answered.
eve are quite ruined?"
"No. There is hope yet, Caro-
line"
''If he relents," she said,
amazed, "there is! Nothing is past
hope. IL such a miracle has hap
pened."
"He is past relenting," said her
husband. "He is dead"