I spoke more firmly, and slightly shook him; but
only a piteous moan was returned.
"Judge Hammond!" I now called aloud, and somewhat imperatively.
But it availed nothing. The poor old man aroused not from the
stupor in which mind and body were enshrouded
"He is dying!" thought I; and instantly left the house in search
of some friends to take charge of him in his last, sad extremity.
The first person to whom I made known the fact shrugged his
shoulders, and said it was no affair of his, and that I must find
somebody whose business it was to attend to him. My next
application was met in the same spirit; and no better success
attended my reference of the matter to a third party. No one to
whom I spoke seemed to have any sympathy for the broken-down old
man. Shocked by this indifference, I went to one of the county
officers, who, on learning the condition of Judge Hammond, took
immediate steps to have him removed to the Alms-house, some miles
distant.
"But why to the Alms-house?" I inquired, on learning his purpose.
"He has property."
"Everything has been seized for debt," was the reply.
"Will there be nothing left after his creditors are satisfied?"
"Very few, if any, will be satisfied," he answered. "There will
not be enough to pay half the judgments against him."
"And is there no friend to take him in,--no one, of all who moved
by his side in the days of prosperity, to give a few hours'
shelter, and soothe the last moments of his unhappy life?"
"Why did you make application here?" was the officer's significant
question.
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