After a while these things were succeeded by affairs of more recent interest, and faded from the public mind.
* * * *
Sharp died two years ago, respected and regretted. The last two years of his life were clouded with a settled melancholy for which his friends could assign no reason. The bulk of his comfortable fortune was made from the land he obtained by fraud and crime.
The disappearance of the file was a mystery that created some commotion in the Land Office, but he got his patent.
* * * *
It is a well-known tradition in Austin and vicinity that there is a buried treasure of great value somewhere on the banks of Shoal Creek, about a mile west of the city.
Three young men living in Austin recently became possessed of what they thought was a clue of the whereabouts of the treasure, and Thursday night they repaired to the place after dark and plied the pickaxe and shovel with great diligence for about three hours.
At the end of that time their efforts were rewarded by the finding of a box buried about four feet below the surface, which they hastened to open.
The light of a lantern disclosed to their view the fleshless bones of a human skeleton with clothing still wrapping its uncanny limbs.
They immediately left the scene and notified the proper authorities of their ghastly find.
On closer examination, in the left breast pocket of the skeleton's coat, there was found a flat, oblong packet of papers, cut through and through in three places by a knife blade, and so completely soaked and clotted with blood that it had become an almost indistinguishable mass.
With the aid of a microscope and the exercise of a little imagination this much can be made out of the letter; at the top of the papers:
B--x a ---rip N--2--92.
[From The Rolling Stone, June 23, 1891.]
Can you inform me where I can buy an interest in a newspaper of some kind? I have some money and would be glad to invest it in something of the sort, if some one would allow me to put in my capital against his experience.
COLLEGE GRADUATE.
Telegraph us your address at once, day message. Keep telegraphing every ten minutes at our expense until we see you. Will start on first train after receiving your wire.
* * * *
Who was the author of the line, "Breathes there a man with soul so dead?"
G. F.
This was written by a visitor to the State Saengerfest of 1892 while conversing with a member who had just eaten a large slice of limburger cheese.
* * * *
Where can I get the "Testimony of the Rocks"?
GEOLOGIST.
See the reports of the campaign committees after the election in November.
* * * *
Please state what the seven wonders of the world are. I know five of them, I think, but can't find out the other two.
SCHOLAR.
The Temple of Diana, at Lexington, Ky.; the Great Wall of China; Judge Von Rosenberg (the Colossus of Roads); the Hanging Gardens at Albany; a San Antonio Sunday school; Mrs. Frank Leslie, and the Populist party.
* * * *
What day did Christmas come on in the year 1847?
CONSTANT READER
The 25th of December.
* * * *
What does an F. F. V. mean?
IGNORANT.
What does he mean by what? If he takes you by the arm and tells you how much you are like a brother of his in Richmond, he means Feel For Your Vest, for he wants to borrow a five. If he holds his head high and don't speak to you on the street he means that he already owes you ten and is Following a Fresh Victim.
* * * *
Please decide a bet for us. My friend says that the sentence, "The negro bought the watermelon OF the farmer" is correct, and I say it should be "The negro bought the watermelon from the farmer." Which is correct?
R.
Neither. It should read, "The negro stole the watermelon from the farmer."
* * * *
When do the Texas game laws go into effect?
HUNTER.
When you sit down at the table.
* * * *
Do you know where I can trade a section of fine Panhandle land for a pair of pants with a good title?
LAND AGENT.
We do not. You can't raise anything on land in that section. A man can always raise a dollar on a good pair of pants.