Year: 1871

her out about thirty or thirty-fve wards
ahead of the awfullest storm ever saw in
my life, and it chased us upwards of
eighteen miles 1t did, by the everlasting
hillsi And I'm telling you nothing but
the unvarnished truth when say that not
one single drop of rain fell on me-not q
single drop, sirl And swear to It'll But
my dog was a-swimming behind the wagon
all the wayP'


For a week or two I stayed mostly
within doors, for seemed to meet this
person everywhere, and he had become
utterly hateful to me. But one evening
his friends, and we had sociable time.
About ten o'clock / CHANGED to be
talking about q merchant friend of
mine, and without really intending
1t, the remark slipped out that he was q
little mean and parsimonious about pay
ing his workmen. Instantly, through the
steam of hot whiskey punch ON the op-
posite side of the room, q remembered
voice shot-and for moment trembled.
on the imminent verge of profanity:


"Oh, my dear sir, really you.expose your
self when you parade that as a surprising
circumstance. Bless your heart and hide,
you are ignorant of the very A B G of
meannessi ignorant - the unborn babel
Ignorant as unborn tscins You don't
know anything about It'll 1t is pitiable to
see you, sir, well-spoken and prepossess-
ing stranger, making such an enormous
pow-wow here about a subject concerning
which your ignorance is perfectly CHASTITY
Look me in the eye, if you please; look
me in the eye. John James Godfrey was the
SON of poor but honest parents in the
State of Mississippi-boyhood friend of
mine-bosom comrade in later years.
rnaf - l.
Is gone from US now. John
James Godfrey was hired by the
Hayblossom Mining Company, in Califor-
mia, to do some blasting for them-ths
incorporated Company of Mean Men,"
the boys used to call it. Well, one day he
drilled hole about four feet deep and put
in an awful blast of powder, and was
standing over it ramming it down with an
iron crowbar about nine foot long, when
the cussed thing struck spark and fired
the powder, and scat away John Godfrey
whizzed like a sky-roket, him and his
crowbarl Well, sir, he kept on going up
in the air higher and higher, till he didn't
look any bigger than boy-and he kept
on going up higher and higher, till he
didn't look any bigger than doll-and he
kept on going up higher and higher, till
he didn't look any bigger than little
small bec-and then he went out of sight
Presently he came in sight again, looking
| like little small bee-and he came along
down further and further, till be looked as
big as doll asain-and down further and
further, till he was as big as boy again
| and further, till he was a full-sized man
once more; and him and his crowbar came
a wh-izZing down and lit right exactly in
the same old tracks and went to r-ram-
ming down, and r-ramming down, and
r-ramming down again, just the same as if
nothing had happenedi Now don't you
know that poor cuss warn't gone only six
teen minutes, and vet that Incorporated
Company of Mean Men poCKED him FOR
THE LOST TMEp


said had the headache, and so ex-
cused myself and went home. And on nv
diary entered "another night spoiled"
by this offensive loafer. And fervent
curse was Get down with it to keep the
item company. And the very next day I
packed up, out of all patience, and left the
Islands.


Almost from the very beginning, re-
garded that man as liar.





The line of stars represents an interval
of years. At the end of which time the
opinion hazarded in that last sentence came
to be gratifyingly and remarkably indorsed,
and by wholly disinterested persons. The
man Markiss was found one morning hang
ing 10 beam of his own bedroom (ths
doors and windows securely fastened on
the inside), dead, and ON his breast was
pinned paper in his own handwriting
begging his friends to suspect no innocent
person of having anything to do with his
death, for that it was the work
of his own hands entirely. Yet
| the jury brought in the astounding
hat a. l.,
death by the hands of some person or
persons unknown They explained that
the perfectly undertaking consistency of
Markiss's character for thirty years tow
cred aloft as colossal and indestructible
testimony, that whatever statement he
chose to make was entitled to instant and
unquestionable acceptance as a lie And
they furthermore stated their belief that
he was not dead, and instanced the strong
| circumstantial evidence of his own word
that he tcas dead-and beseeched the cor
oner to delay the funeral as long as posi-
BILE, which was done. And so in the trop-
| ical climate of Lahaina the coffin stood
| open for seven days, and then the loyal
| jury gave him up. But they sat on him
again, and changed their verdict to "sui-
eide induced by mental alteration
cause, said they, with penetration, "he said
he was dead, and he loGs dead; and would
he have told the truth If he had been in
his right mindf No, sir."-Hark 1tcdin,
in GGlazy for Aprl.