OLD BOOK

BOOKBINDER,M.
Bookbinder also came to be known as Old Book. The asylum only buried bodies of
the friendless and unclaimed. The burial corps consisted of a reliable employee and
a half dozen insane men. They were handy with a spade and could help through the
process of digging a grave and lowering the casket. The grave diggers were for
some reason pretty constantly engaged, between burials setting up markers and
making sure the weeds were down. One of the most unique characters was
Bookbinder, M. he was sent from a large poorhouse and was mute. The officer who
took him in to custody reported he was a bookbinder. Without being able to talk or
express himself that is the name he was given. Shortly after he was called Old
Book he soon became a member of the burial corps. The first funeral he took place
in he started a new trait for every funeral. First things first the dead were all
strangers to us and the cemetery but a funeral was simply a mark of respect. Old
Book removed his cap, began to wipe his eyes and vent loud lamentations. His
emotions became contagious and many moist eyes at the grave side. His feelings
overcame him it was like he was possessed of a mania that manifest into
uncontrollable grief. Book had no favorites, he would step back with the shovel in
hand start with his left and then go to right for wiping away his tears. When the
coffin began to decent in the grave he would walk over lean against the big elm in
the center. The entire assemblage. Ulmus American or the spreading elm gave
shelter to hundreds of people trying to escape the suns rays. Birds built there nest
and rabbits burrowed beneath its roots. They said the sane surrounding the
insane. Old Books only excurse was funerals. In natural events it became time to
carry Old Book to his final resting place. Book had shed his last tear. The hour
was set for noon on a beautiful June day. More than a hundred uniformed nurses and
god knows how many patients. As lowing the coffin the choir played the rock of
ages, the coffin being lowered soon bounded to the air as if it was empty. Some
people ran from it some wanted to know. In the midst a wailing voice was heard
every eye turned to the grave yard elm. Every man and women stood in shock
because as always stood Old Book weeping and moaning with the same cloth cap
and handkerchief around his neck. The nurses that stood at his bed while he took
his last breathe the undertaker who embalmed him. It was broad daylight. No one
moved or spoke a sense of fear came over them. They summand helpers to remove
the lid of the coffin. Hands shaking as the unscrewed the lid and as they lifted the
lid the wailing stopped. He laid there dead. The apparition vanished. The big elm
started to die off so they wanted to cut it down, the man who was getting ready to
cut it said he seem a man standing there protecting the tree. Thats how its known
as the Grave yard elm.