n ut last. An', standin' on the gallus-tree, he sung a
song which wuz all wrote off by hissef. An' then they knocked the trap
on him. An' thus the brave man died and never made a kick. In life he
wuz allus careful with his means, an' saved up vast welth, which he
dug holes and buried, an' died with the secret locked in his bosom to
this day.

ON HACKMENS

Hackmens has the softest thing in the bizness. They hain't got nothin'
to do but look hump-shouldered an' chaw tobacker an' wait. Hackmens
all looks like detectives, an' keeps still, an' never even spits when
you walk past 'em. An' they're allus cold. A hackman that stands high
in the p'fession kin wear a overcoat in dog-days an' then look chilly
an' like his folks wuz all dead but the old man, an' he wuz a
drunkard. Ef a hackman would on'y be a blind fiddler he'd take in more
money than a fair-ground. Hackmens never gives nothin' away. You kin
trust a hackman when you can't trust your own mother. Some people
thinks when they hire a hack to take 'em some place that the hackman
has got some grudge ag'in' 'em--but he hain't--he's allus that way. He
loves you but he knows his place, and smothers his real feelings. In
life's giddy scenes hackmens all wears a mask; but down deep in their
heart you kin bet they are yourn till deth. Some hackmens look like
they wuz stuck up, but they hain't--it's only 'cause they got on so
much clothes. Onc't a hackman wuz stabbed by a friend of his in the
same bizness, an' when the doctors wuz seein' how bad he wuz karved
up, they found he had on five shurts. They said that wuz all that
saved his life. They said ef he'd on'y had on four shurts, he'd 'a'
been a ded man. An' the hackman hissef, when he got well, used to brag
it wuz the closetest call he ever had, an' laid fer the other hackman,
an' hit him with a car couplin' an' killed him, an' come mighty nigh
goin' to the penitenchary fer it. Influenshal friends wuz all that
saved him that time. No five shurts would 'a' done it. The mayor said
that when he let him off, an' brought down the house, an' made hissef
a strong man fer another term. Some mayors is purty slick, but a
humble hackman may sometimes turn out to be thist as smooth. The on'y
thing w'y a hackman don't show up no better is 'cause he loses so much
sleep. That's why he allus looks like he had the headache, an' didn't
care ef he did. Onc't a hackman wuz waitin' in front of a hotel one
morning an' wuz sort o' dozin' like,