WHO WAS DRIVING?

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 337, 23 May 1885, Page 8

WHO WAS DRIVING?

One of the prettiest conceits in Mr Harris' (Uncle Kemus) new book is put into this mouth of an old negro driver. He had run away from his master could not be caught ; but an old lady bought him, because he had saved the life of her son, and he surrendered himself and became a faithful servant. When his old mistress came to die her wandering mind dwelt upon the nagro who had served her so faithfully; She fancied she was making a journey. " The carriage goes smoothly along here," she said. Then, after a little paxise, she asked, "Is David driving ?" and the weeping negro cried out from a corner of the room : "'Taint po' Dave, mist'ss ! De'good Lord done tuck holt er do lines." And so, dreaming as a little . child would dream, the old lady slipped from life into the beautitudes, it the smiles of the dead mean anything. WANTED A, BELL IN HER TOMB. A Boston undertaker says : " The chances for a person's coining to life again after being buried are very small. They must have air, even when in a comatose state ; and then the embalming fluid which is almost always injected into the body before burial will remove - all chances of a return to life in the grave. People often leave directions behind them before dying for fear of such a thing happening. There was one case I know of — not being especially connected with it, however — in which a lady; left directions to have a bell placed in her tomb at Mount Hope and the coffin-lid unfastened, so that she might have the means of announcing her recovery, if such an event took place."