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Show HOMECOMING 8 By R. II. WILKINSON (Associated Newspapers.) WNU Service. WE KNEW very little about Uncle Wilbur. And by the same token we knew all about him. You see, it was like this: Uncle Wilbur ran away when he was a boy. I believe his aspirations were along the cowboy line. His father and mother tried to find him, but were unsuccessful. Wilbur was an only child, and it broke them all up. About a year after Wilbur went away, his father died. And six months later his mother died, too. Folks said it was from broken hearts. It so happened that I was the nearest living relative, and by the time I had grown up and married Sally, Uncle Wilbur was only a legend. leg-end. All the facts concerning his disappearance were told to me by my own mother and father, now both dead. For I was but a babe in . arms when Uncle Wilbur decamped for the western plains. It was, therefore, a surprise when one day a letter arrived from El Paso, Texas, signed by Uncle Wilbur. Wil-bur. It was a lengthy epistle, and from its contents we learned the following facts: Uncle Wilbur had but recently learned of the death of his father and mother. Since coming com-ing West he had served in a variety of capacities: stable boy, barroom helper, cowboy, horse wrangler and a dozen others which have no bearing bear-ing on his present circumstances. Borne twelve years ago he had turned prospector. Suffice it to say that Uncle Wilbur had, to quote his own phraseology, "struck it rich." He was now, we gleaned, a retired re-tired rancher, a man of no small wealth. Investigation had revealed that we were his only living rela- Uncle Wilbur's own use. We remod eled the interior of our own home and purchased new furniture. Our friends were thus convinced of Uncle Wilbur's existence. They promised to be on hand to add their welcome. They were as pleased as we with the prospect, and aided us no end in painting Uncle Wilbur as the distinguished personage we thought him to be. A letter arrived from Uncle Wilbur Wil-bur a week before his expected arrival. ar-rival. He would, he said, be delayed because of business reasons. He thanked us for our eagerness to have him with us, and declared he was looking forward to the day when once more he would be united with the last surviving members of his family. fam-ily. The letter contained a check of no small amount which he directed us to feel free to use for our personal needs. The delay gave us further time to complete preparations. Moreover, the postponement and the check served to increase our interest and form a clear mental picture of the man who, it appeared, was to become be-come our benefactor. For a month, we heard no further fur-ther word from Uncle Wilbur. And when another week had passed we began to despair of his coming. Our friends began to talk and wonder and suggest among themselves that our Uncle Wilbur was "mythical" after all. Sally wrote again, but received re-ceived no answer. And as the weeks dragged by we spoke of Uncle Wilbur Wil-bur less often when folks were about for fear of hearing a soft but clear snicker in some remote corner of the room. It was nearly fall when next we heard of Uncle Wilbur. A knock sounded on our door one evening, and upon opening it I discovered there a small man with a gray beard. The beard was stained with tobacco juice. The face of him was wizened and leathery looking. His eyes were red and watery. He seemed shrunken and bent and dried up. I would have closed the door on him, had he not thrust himself him-self inside and said he had word 1 for us from Uncle Wilbur. There was a dirtiness about the little man that provoked our disgust, dis-gust, though we listened to his tale and then sent him away. . He told us that he came from Uncle Un-cle Wilbur to deliver a message, which message he presented me in rather a bulky envelope. As we talked the watery eyes of him darted dart-ed about the room and I saw on his face a look which would have aroused in me a feeling of pity, had it been a less despicable countenance. counte-nance. The little, man departed at last, having told us but vaguely about Uncle Wilbur, confirming only the facts about him we already knew. As soon as he had gone we opened the package and found it to contain con-tain the last will and testament of our dear old uncle. He had bequeathed be-queathed us his entire fortune, which was greater than we had at first supposed. A brief note accompanied ac-companied the testament, written in Uncle Wilbur's curious hand, stating stat-ing that he was at death's door. He had learned, he said, of our plans for his reception and of the picture we had conjured in our minds of his personal appearance. He hoped we would carry that memory with us always. On the day following the body of a man was recovered from the river below the mill. The man was small and bearded and dirty looking. No papers of identification were on his nerson. thouch we recognized him as our visitor of the night previous. And in memory of our distinguished uncle we saw that the poor chap had a proper burial. And that was the last we ever heard of Uncle Wilbur. He seemed shrunken and bent and dried np. tives. In fact, he seemed to be in possession of all the facts concerning concern-ing the departure of our family from this earth, and of my own dire financial finan-cial circumstances. He expressed a desire to return to the land of his nativity, to spend his declining years with his only blood relative now existing. Delicately Deli-cately he touched upon the condition of our finances, the facts about which he seemed only too well aware, and advised that he was crediting to our account at the bank a sum of money, which was to be used at our discretion and for whatever what-ever purpose we saw fit In con-. con-. elusion Uncle Wilbur stated that he would arrive about the first of the following month, and trusted that his advent would not inconvenience us. Directly following the reading of this letter I called my bank, and was staggered by the amount of money which Uncle Wilbur had credited cred-ited to my balance. For a time Sally and I were undecided. un-decided. We discussed the thing from many angles and at length decided de-cided that the least we could do was to prepare a hearty welcome for the old man. His munificence had startled us. We hardly knew whether wheth-er the money was to be used for our own needs, or for the purpose of preparing an elaborate homecoming. homecom-ing. The more we thought and talked about the proposed visit of Uncle Wilbur, the more delighted we became be-came with the prospect. He was our only living relative, a fact which had, up to the present time, been more or less a source of annoyance. Those young married couples with whom we most associated were forever for-ever dwelling upon the achievements achieve-ments of their relatives, near and distant. We therefore made haste to appraise ap-praise our friends of Uncle Wilbur's planned visit, and covered our con- fusion nobly when asked why he f had kept secret knowledge of his existence. We pictured him as a tall, powerful man; a sun-tanned and virile-looking westerner; a man of fabulous wealth, a man of distinction distinc-tion and bearing. We exaggerated and elaborated and secretly prayed that Uncle Wilbur would be, in appearance ap-pearance at any rate, everything that we had portrayed. Sally had written to Uncle Wilbur that we would be delighted to have him visit us, to make his home with us as long as he liked. We drew unstintingly on the money he had deposited to our credit. We added a new wing to the house, which was fixed up into an attractive suite for |