Oxford Democrat., 1917-01-02
THE BUDLONG|
PAPERS
They Contained Valuable
Documents

They Contained Valuable I
I Documents 8
By ETHEL HOLMES =
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Mary Hartwell was twenty years old
when her mother died. Her father had
died several years before, leaving q
business much tangled. It 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 q
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 irons-indeed, every conceivable
article. There were boxes and trunks,
some empty, some half filed, some full
The sight 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 SIZE had emptied the box
when, feeling In the bottom, her hand
touched a bundle wrapped in paper.
Taking It out, she shook of 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
q handwriting like that In which the
Endorsement was written. She un-
wrapped the cover and revealed num-
Der Of yellow papers. She opened and
glanced at several Of them, which
turned out to be receipted bills. There
was also that part Of checkbooks which
comprised the stubs of checks, lot
Of accounts current and some legal
documents.
Mary concluded that the papers per-
tanned to the affairs Of some one by
the name of Budlong and that 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
and daily doings were represented by
these accumulating records. Budlong,
whoever he was, doubtless in due time
passed away, the evidences Of his ex'
istence were transferred from desk
in use and finally found a resting place
In the bottom Of q. box In q garret
and covered with wornout bedcloth1ng.
Truly a tombstone Is not the only re-
minder 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 garret to dealer In
secondhand furniture and carried the
old papers down to the furnace for
burning. She was 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 In
the other papers, then took 1t upstairs
and put 1t on shelf In closet among
articles the disposition OF which she
had not decided upon.
Mary had a second cousin, Horace
Drummond, who had manifested a.
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 But
Drummond had nothing but a meager
salary and Mary had already expert
enced foretaste Of poverty, and, re-
membering that marriage means a
multiplication Of articles necessary to
comfortable existence. she blocked her
relatives way to proposal.
There was another reason why such
a union would not be advisable. Ed
gar Drummond, Horace's father, was
a broken down man Of business over
whose record hung cloud. What that
cloud was Mary did not know. though
she did know that the elder Drum
mond had been charged by his busi-
ness partner with having defrauded
him, had been put out Of the firm and
had never since been sufficiently trust
| ed to enable him to gain fresh start
Horace had been gigen to understand
| that the swindle had been on the other
side-that the partner had ruined his
| father in order to secure the whole In
stead Of half the profit on very valu'
able purchase the firm had made.
Horace Drummond, having q father
to support, was certainly not in a po-
sition to marry. He did not know,
however, what deprivation bis being
unable to do so was to Mary. He was
rot only acceptable to her personally,
but she did not take. kindly to living
single life and earning her daily
bread. Horace was willing to accept
/ the responsibilities that would accrue
to him, but Mary gave him to under
stand that 80 long as his father was
an incumbrance on him It would be un-
wise for him to take wife.
Mary. who had been well educated;
secured q position as teacher ene
settled down to the work Of INSTRUCT
Ing children. Horace visited her occa-
sionally. When two persons desire to
marry and are prevented by obstacles
IN ,rnost casoo either the obstacles are