"A PUZZLE TO 'ISSELF"
(By Horace Hutchinson.)
"Run over and killed, 'e was—just aa I near as makes no matter-just in iront of me own door-'im. I mean, Mr. Jones 'e calls 'isself,' as«is curate up at ht, Michacl's Church."/ "Lor! Killed, wise, Susan? "Not killed, no, I did'nt say as ow 'e was killed, an' don't you go spreadin. no reports, Eliza, as 'ow I said, as e was killed, aa 'ud give me a name as one as perverts truth—wot I never as. done nor never will. But killed as near as makes no matter, was the X used, and them as I'll maintain, knowin the truth. The 'bus come as near by lm, it did as there .weren't the wideness of vour 'and, Eliza, atween it an the pore young man, an' 'e come in f.t my door, 'e did, tliat pale as you d aye said as 'ow Vd a-seed a ghost, it so as e weren't a ghost 'isself.' VWas 'e, indeed, Susan? '"E was that, Eliza, and if it werent so I wouldn't go to say it, no matter if it were ever so, me knowing the tnvtli, an' no sooner was 'e .come in than® Bays, all 'eavy breathm liko. ( If you 11 be excusing me, Mrs. Punt, e I iustgo down on my knees and ™ank 'Gawd as 'as saved me from a dreadful death.' So I says to 'im, Granted, as it lady would, an' to is knee® e goes, an' praved beautiful with thoiifcs to Gawd as 'ad saved 'mi from a sudden and vi'lent death. , "After a while 'e comes fo isself again, an' 'o rises up, and tho blood was into "is face again, an' 'e begins .to talk about my poor George as was killed out Moniky—beautiful 'e talks! 'B says os 'ow I wasn't to take on at all, nor make no moan for im, as 'o calls it. 'for you know, Mrs. Punt, 'o says, "e's gone to 1 a 'appier place than ever 'e could find or think of this earth,' *6 says. , ~ "•Is that so, Mr. Jones? I asks im. 'Are you quite sure as that s so? "An' 'e says, bold and confident like, I 'I'm quite sure of it,* V says. "'Would you £0 into Court and suear it on tho Book?' I asks. j "'And' that t would, Mrs. Punt, e
S!l 'T puts me J ead on one side at that; ns it's a way I 'as when there s somethin' as I don't seem somehow £ understand, and I says to ( im, Touri & puzzle to me Mr. Jones. ' "'Ow's that, Mrs. Punt?' 'e says. "'Well only just now, sir, when you come in, you was that scared bein' so near run over and killed by that there 'bus, as you went down on your two knees,' I says, 'and thnnlced Gawd as 'E'd a-proserved vou—so thankful as you was a* you W't ben ktllrd—and now vou tells me-as I didn't ought to make no moan over my George bem killed, seein' as 'e's gone to a beautitul place where's 'e's 'app'ier than ever 'o knowed what it was to be 'appy on earth. I suppose it would bo tho same,with you, sir, wouldn't it?' I says. "'T 'one so indeed, Mrs. Punt, o says. "'Well, then,' I says, 'I don't quite understand you, Mr. Jones,' I says, 'if you'll excuse, me saying 60. Terrible scared you was, just now when you come ill, 'cos you was so near killed; and thank Gawd, you did, as 'ad saved you from bein' killed 5 and if so be ns you 'ad been killed you'd a-gono to a place beautifuller and 'anpier than ever there is on this earth. No, I don t understand you, Mr. Jones. You ro a puzzle to me,' I says. . "And what d'you think as e did then, the poro young man? A nico young man 'o is, too! 'E put 'is "and up to 'is forehead, 'e did, same/as 'o 'ad a pain there. 'E stood so, a minute an' a half, maybe, dazed-like, an' os it wero thinking', an' then 'e says: " 'Uuwd b'nss yon. M'-s. PnnK' V says. 'I'm a nuzzle to myself.' An' with no more said 'e iust takes ui> 'is 'hat an' out 'e goes at the door. Now what d'you make o' (hat, Eliza?" "Balmy, I should call 'im—snftisli in tho V-id. Tuzzl" to 'isself. did 'e say?" " 'Puzzle to 'isself was 'is words, Eliza, ami balmy the nore young man may be; but seems like to me as 'e ain't the only one as is balmy the same way, if only 'they'd got the sense to k?iow it— 'a nuzzle to 'isself.' "—"Westminster Gazette." ' I
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Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 77, 26 December 1918, Page 6
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796"A PUZZLE TO 'ISSELF" Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 77, 26 December 1918, Page 6
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