Northern Stories -
Émile Maheu
Nearer to Thee
Once upon a time, it was during the Klondike Gold Rush, two Irish guys,
fresh from Ireland were with a group of prospectors who expected to find
the gold ingots that would make them rich overnight.
That day, they had walked many miles in the Chilkoot Trail, with their
pack-sacks heavy with tools and food. They were very tired when they
came to a settlement. In the sole Inn of the village, they got a room
and a bed for the night.
Rest assured that the commodities were lacking. No running water, no
lights other than big wooden matches, beds with mattresses of hay and
straws, and a night pot hidden under the bed, as toilet,.
Before retiring, the two mens had used the pot and had placed it under
the bed.
Once in bed, they resented stings all over their body and lighting a
match, they discovered that the bed sheets were infested with bed bugs.
So they decided to eliminate as many as possible, by drowning them in
the yellowish liquid in the pot. A small piece of straw floated on the
liquid with the bed bugs.
Finally the two friends went back to bed and fell asleep.
They had been asleep for a while when suddenly , during the night, one
guy awoke and pushed his friend.
- Do you hear what I hear?
- Yes, it sounds like music?
- Yeah! It sounds as if someone is singing. It has awakened me too.
So the two guys got up, looked in the room, opened the door, listened in
the doorway, always the same song was heard. Finally they discovered
that it was coming from under their bed. The singing seemed to come from
the pot. So they pulled it out from under the bed, and with a match they
looked inside. They were amazed by what they saw.
Some bed bugs had drowned and were floating on their back in the liquid,
while others griping themselves on the piece of straw were singing:
*** Nearer to Thee my God, Nearer to Thee ***
Told to A-Émile Maheu, on May 25, 2003 by Mrs Vivian Craig (Borgia
Antiques in Sudbury)
It was told to her by her grand father as a story that happened in the
year 1899 when he went to the Klondike Gold Rush.
This version is the property of A-Émile Maheu D.H. *Mon Oncle Émile*
2003
