Year: 1866

! ClA4 AUE b4GA6 was a R1Odl again Close


my head then, after feeling about a bit,


got my hand upon bit of broken board


when l felt grOan again, and then, after


searching about, found that underneath


the board was a face which, by scratching


away the earth, I could touch, and feel to


/ be warm.


The first thing I did was to start up


and strike my head violently against a


crOss-piece, so that I was half stunned :


and then began 20 feel about for shovel
till l got hold of handle and found that


the rest was so tightly bedded In the soil,


that must have been a good hour grub


bIng 1t out with my fingers. But I kept
leaving off to go and speak to the face,
/ which / knew TO be that of Sam CaFber-
~ +; and though, poor fellow, it did him


no good, be being quite insensible, yet it


did me good, for there was company
l was not alone-and after leaving off that
way now and then. worked again ike
/ good .un till the shovel was at liberty
| for while 1 was hard at work I had no


time to think about any thing else.


/ And now, though | could feel that Door


Sam Wss breathing, he didn't groan and
| l began with the shovel to try and set his


face more at liberty but at the first trial


l threw down the tool with a horrible
| cry, as the loose gravel came rattling
| down, and In another minute the poor
I .
| covered if had not thrust myself against
! the earth and kept 1t back


If l could only have kept from think
| ing l would not have cared but now that
l was forced to keep still and hold up the
earth, the thoughts would keep coming
thick and East, and mixed up with them
all were oofhns-black cloth cofins with
white nails black cofins with black


nails elm coffins workhouse shells ; |
oT7I "a ,FA A1ov,


myself lying stiff and cold. There was


one hght-grained elm, which looked |


sometimes quite like a little speck right |


off in the distance, and then came gradu- |


ally closer, and closer, and closer, till it |
seemed as though the next moment it |


would crush me, or drive me into the /


earth where l was croUching that it I


would gradually go back further and fur |
ther till 1t was quite speck again. Then /
there were professions O. people in black,


constantly crOWding by.


Now and then there was a noise of |
stone falling or a little bit of rolling
earth, else all was as still and silent as # |
there wasn't such thing as hearing 1t
was so still that the quietness was horrible,
and I began to talk out loud for the sake
of having something to hear and then
sounds Of pick and spade, for I knew they
would be trying to dig US out, alive or
dead


That'n be it, I says out aloud
" they'll dig, and dig, and dig till they
get to US but then they've got all the
stuff to get up the shaft, and shore up
again as they goes, and shall be gone
long before they gets to me T.


Then the horror of death came again,
and leaped up and beat myself about
until l was drenched with blood and
sweat, and then I lay still again, with my
heart throbbing and beating, and try !
what 1 would, I couldn't get enough !
breath. l tried TO reach the face Of my
poor mate, and found it still warm, and |
that the earth had not settled over it. It !
was company to be able to touch it so long
as he was alive; but 1 thought about
what must come, and then shivered as /
felt that 1 should seraP5 the loose gravel
over it, and creep to the far end Of the
narrow hole. And now I began, for the S
first time, to think about home, and my I
two girls, and their mother and there
was no comfort there, for began to won I
der what was to become of them when l ,
was gone Quietly as could be l calcula- q
ed what my funeral would cost the Odd I
Fellows, and then about the allowance
.her'd be for my people out 0 the Widow g
and Orphans Fund, and then l thought I
now things might have been worse than I
hey was. At last of all, [ feels quiet aud q
patient like, and, for the first time since
I'd been buried, was down on my knees 1
With my face in my hands. a


[ don't know how long / stopped like '
hat, when all at once I fancied l heard J
roice speaking, and I started up but it y
sounded no more, and as 1 sat listening l
could see again all sorts Of things coming j
md going. Now it was cofins now {
beasts and things without a
my particular shape and as they moved e
md cOiled, and rolled forward, l kept
ceiling as though they must touch me
)ut no they glided off again, and at last,
o keep from thinking, l stripped off coat
md Waist-coat, and, cropping about till q
rot hold of the shovel, I cried out, God t.
lelp me !" and began to try and dig way
,ut.


Every man for himseIfl'' I halfroared, l
md the curious, stifed sound of my voice y
frightened me but 1 worked on till | =
lad thrown back few spadefuls, when | i
OUnd that | had put it off too long, and Z
hat l could do nothing but sink down, l
,anting for air. I couldn't keep off the
dea that something was pressing down :,
Ipon me and trying to force out my +
breath at least this idea got to be so i
trOng that L kept thruStIng out my L
lands and trying to push the something
way. dom know how time went, but :
It last l was lying, worn out and helpless, =
lpOn the ground feebly trying to grub or
)urrOW a way out with my fingers 4


All at once I remembered poor Sam, +
nd after good deal of cropping about | e
ound the board again, and laid my hand
lpOn his face, but only to snatch it away q
With a chill running through me, for it a
vas as cold as ice Then l tried to touch Y
lis breast, but soon gave up; for, with r.
he exception of his face, he was COM h
,letely bedded In the earth, while the h
BOARD had only saved him at the first mo- T
nent from instantaneous death. Fl


I crept as far off as I could for now it e
eemed that death was very, very near
veil run out Is


[ won't tell you how weak I was again. il
md how all my past actions came troop e
ng past me. There they all were, from Il
)oyhood till the present and l couldn't "
lelp groaning as l saw how precious lit Y
lie good there was In them-just here and fl
here a bright spark among all the black n
less. AT last | began to think that it .
vas all over, for a heavy, stupid faint e
less came over me, and battled against v
t with all my might; but it was like-to e
ne, there, in that darkness-like a great d
,ird coming nearer and nearer with heavy v
hadoWy' wings and as l tried to drive c
t off it went back, but only to come again, Il
i'll at last the place seemed to fade away; b
or after cropping round and round the f
lace such a many times l seemed to see "
nd know every bit of it as well as If L Il
aw it with my eyes, till it faded away,
nd all seemed to be gone.


Mex thing as I remembers is a dull II


Al II L II n HN