A bill collector knocked on the door of a country debtor.
“Is Fred home?” he asked the woman who answered the door.
“Sorry,” the woman replied. “Fred’s gone for cotton.”
The next day the collector tried again. “Is Fred here today?”
“No, sir,” she said, “I’m afraid Fred has gone for cotton.”
When he returned the third day he humped, “I suppose Fred
is gone for cotton again,?”
“No,” the woman answered solemnly, “Fred died yesterday.”
Suspicious that he was being avoided, the collector decided
to wait a week and investigate the cemetery himself. But
sure enough, there was poor Fred’s tombstone, with this
inscription: . . . “Gone, But Not for Cotton.”
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