The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-01-11
THE BUDLONG:
PAPERS
They Contained Valuable
Documents
By ETHEL HOLMES

ncn utT ultu ilti nav
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
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 1t. 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 she had emptied the box
/ i'm, h.1 hnr
touched n 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 Bulong, nor had she seen
a 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 he receiptcd bills. There
was also that part of chcckbooks 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 Budong and that their
value had long since passed away. Re
wrapping them, she tossed the bundle
on to 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 al
things. There had been some one of
the name of Budlong whose existence
and daily doings were represented by
these accommodating 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
and covered with wornout bedclothing
F. Truly tombstone is not the only re
t hinder of one who has lived and
moved earned and spent money on TN,
face of the earth.
The next day Mary turned over the
| contents of the garnet to dealer Ii
! secondhand furniture and carried the
old papers down to the furnace fol
burning. She was about to throw tn,
Budlong papers Into the roaring flames
when she paused Somehow she had
not the heart to inclnerate the remains
Of the individuals busy existence
Laying the bundle aside, she threw n
| the other papers, then took It upstair,
and put it on a shelf In closet among
articles the disposition Of which sh,
| had not decided upon.
III Mary had a second cousin, Horac,
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 Blu
Drummond had nothing but meage
salary and Mary had already expert
enced foretaste of poverty, and, re
Numbering that marriage means
multiplication of articles necessary I,
comfortable existence, she blocked he
relatives way to proposal
II There was another reason why sucl
union would not be advisable Ed
/ |
broken down man of business owe
whose record hung 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 defraude,
him, had been put out of the firm ant
had never since been sufficiently trust
ed to enable him to gain a fresh start
Horace had been given to understan,
Ii that the swindle had been on the othe
;. side-that the partner had ruined hi
father In order to secure the whole i'm
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 20
sition to marry. He did not know
however. what a deprivation his bein9
unable to do so was to Mary. He wa,
not only acceptable to her personally
but she did not take kindly TO living
q cin0la life and aarnipo hor daft-