Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1917-04-12
THE BUDLONG:
PAPERS
They Contained Valuable .
Documents
By H HOLMES

| w men uGI ulOlLcl ulCds AACk 4olhSA hNNo
died several years before, leaving a
business much tangled. 1t had not
been settled, and Mrs. Hartwell had
not received any regular income from
it since her husbands death, though
she had been paid from time to time
small sums to keep her from absolute
want.
After her mothers death Mary pro-
posed to accept the situation Of a
woman doomed to work for her living
and began by closing out the remnants
Of former times. She and her mother
had remained in their home. Now
Mary proposed to leave it, and the first
thing to be done in preparation was
to clear out family belongings that had
accumulated for years.
Mary went to the attic and looked
about her at the confusion and profu-
sion of miscellaneous articles. There
were discarded furniture, pictures,
empty picture frames, rugs, tenders
and 1rons-indeed, every conceivable
article. There were boxes and trunks,
| SOIuc cuuptSy SO1QC uulA ullCo, III 1ulls
The signt was discouraging, but Mary
resolutely went to work to separate
the whole into groups to be disposed
Of in different ways.
In one of the boxes she found some
| old bedding, consisting Of blankets and
pillows. She removed them and was
thinking that she had emptied the box
when, feeling in the bottom. her hand
touched a bundle wrapped in paper.
Taking 1t out, she shook off the dust
and revealed written on the wrapper.
"Budlong Papers,"
She had never heard of any one by
the name of Budlong. nor had she seen
a handwriting like that in which the
Endorsement was written. She I'M
wrapped the cover and revealed n num-
Der Of yellow papers. She opened and
glanced at several of them, which
turned out to he -eceipted bills. There
was also that part Of checkbooks which
comprised the stubs of checks, a lot
of accounts current and some legal
documents.
-It4 NoAISAuNlNu i1l Nv pdiClo lSl-
tanned to the affairs of some one 10y
the name of Budlong and hat their
value had long since passed away. Re
wrapping them. she tossed the bundle
on to a pile OF papers meant for burn
ing.
That night before going to sleep she
fell to thinking of these papers. They
reminded her of the OngOing Of all
things. There had been some one Of
the name of Budlong whose existence
these accommodating records. Budlong,
whoever he was, doubtless in due time
passed away, the evidences of his eX-
istence We're transferred from a desk
IN use and finally found a resting place
in the bottom of a box in a garnet
and covered with wornout bedclothing.
Truly q tombstone is not the only re,
hinder Of one who has lived and
moved, earned and spent money on the
face Of the earth.
The next day Mary turned over the
contents of the garnet to a dealer In
secondhand furniture and carried the
old papers down to the furnace fol
burning. She vas about to throw the
Budlong papers into the roaring flames
when she paused. Somehow she had
not the heart to incinerate the remains
of the individuals busy existence
Laying the bundle aside. she threw II
the other papers, then took it upstairs
and put it on a shelf in a closet among
articles the disposition of which she
had not decided upon.
Mary had a second cousin, Horace
%Drummond, who had manifested {
fancy for her. Indeed, he had sound
ed her on the possibility of their join
ing the current of their lives and fight
ing the battle of life together. Bu'
Drummond had nothing but a meagel
salary and Mary had already expert
enced a foretaste of poverty, and, re
membering that marriage means ;
multiplication of articles necessary t,
comfortable existence. she blocked he.
relatives way to a proposal.
There was another reason why sucl
a union would not be advisable. Ed
gar Drummond, Horace's father, wa
a broken down man Of business owe
whose record hung a cloud. What tina
cloud was Mary did not know, though
she did know that the elder Drum
mond had been charged by his bust
ness partner with having defraudet
him, had been put out of the firm AM
had never since been sufficiently trust
ed to enable him to gain a fresh start
Horace had been given to understan,
that the swindle had been on the othe
side-that the partner had ruined hi
father in order to secure the whole in
stead Of half the profit on a very valu
able purchase the firm had made.
Horace Drummond, having a father
to support, was certainly not in a pc
sition to marry. He did not know
however, what a deprivation his bein!
unable to do SO was to Mary. He wa.
not only acceptable to her personally
but she did not take kindly to living
a single life and earning her daily
bread, Horace was willing to accan