THE BONES OF HIS ANCESTOR.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3184, 12 September 1881, Page 4

THE BONES OF HIS ANCESTOR.

A returned immigrant, who had made a large fortune in Canada, bought an estate

in Hampshire, and gathered round him in hi* new home many remembrances of tho old days. He was a soft-hearted old fellow, :m-l had stripper! the old ivy-clad cottage in Suffolk of all that was portable, giving his new mansion its time-honored name. Among other proofs of his intention to make his permanent home in Hants, he built a handsome vault in the village churchyard. Tr then occurred to him that he would move his father's body from the old buryingground in Suffolk and lay it in the splendid tomb which his wealth had consecrated to the future use of the family. He accordingly drove to the station and asked the derk at the goods office what the cost would ho of bringing his father's remains from Suffolk. The clerk said he could not tell, the schedule of charges being silent on the subject. " Dives" then reluctantly explained that his father had been dead many years—that the remains, in fact, could amount to little more than bones. "Ah ! now I have it, sir," said the matter-of-fact clerk, running his finger down the list of goods till he has got to " manures—artificial —guano, superphosphate, plaster, b-o-n-e-s. " Yes, sir; here we have it. By Great Eastern and London and S. V V. the charge, lot's see, will be—two and a penny." " Dives " was beginning to get shocked, but said, "Well, then, I can order them to be sent, and settle the account here ?" " No, sir. begging your pardon ; hones has to he prepaid I"" And the clerk returned hie ruthless pencil to its resting-place behind his ear and resumed his work, as much as to say the interview was over. —Tanity Fair.