Page:Six months in Kansas.djvu/101

Rh ments after E. came away. And now I sit here seeing the men of years, who should not have left these young hands to the sad work of closing dying eyes, go to prepare the poor, worn-out body for its safe and last repose.

Poor Hadley! and poor everybody who comes away from home to die among strangers. I am glad he had so little consciousness, and I give thanks that heaven is as easily reached from Kansas as from any other point under the sun. I never, in feeding the poor creature, could forget that somewhere, perhaps, he had a mother, or a wife, or a daughter, whose heart would wither from never knowing his final end. So long as I have known him, he has never had clearness of mind sufficient to tell his own story.

Now the picture changes again. The door opens to admit Grove L, the Governor's private secretary. He is always welcome, with his pleasant smile, showing a wealth of teeth, and his ringing voice, full of the elements of music. He throws off his blanket, and says he is "bound to stay." I look at him with a bewildering stare, which he answers back by saying he is sick, and his death,