The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1870-10-29
Fror the November GALAXY.
A New Mark Tapley reated by Mark
Twain.

A New Mark TapIey reated by Mark
low that corpse (said the un-
der aker. patting the folded hands
Of deceased approvingly) YVES a
bri k-every way yoI took him he
va . brick. He was SO real &C
cor modating, and so notes.-the
an. simple in his last moments.
Friends wanted metallic burial case
- othiDg else would do Icouldn't
ge' it. There warn't going to be
tin ,s-any body could see that
Co apse said never mind, shake him
up some kind Of . box he could
stl Itch out in comfortable, he
ws,'n't particular bout the general
81: lie of it, Said he went more on
70 M than style, any way, in a last
fir:al container. Friends wanted a
silver door-plate on the coffin, sig
nitying who he was and where he
VS. from. Now, you know q fell
Low couldn't roust out such gaily
thing as that in a little country
town as this. What did the corpse
sfv7 Corpse said, whitewash his
Oil canoe and dob his address and
general destination on to it with
backing brush and q stencil plate,
ling with a verse from some hymn
o: other, and pint him for the tomb,
std mark him C. o. D., on the box,
sd let him skip along. He warn't
ary more distressed than you
lion the contrary just as calm
md collected as a hearse horse;
rid he judged that wher' be was
t;oing to, body would find it con
siderable better to attract attention
iy picturesque moral character
u an natty burial case with q
t,well door plate on it. Splendid
Ut an he was. I'd I've druther do
';,r q corpse like that n any I've
,,ckled in seven year. There's
tome satisfaction in buryin' man
,;ko that. You feel that what
ou're doing is appreciated. Lord
iless you, SOS he got planted be.
lore he spilled, he was perfectly
iatisfied; said his relations meant
well, perfectly well, but all them
preparations was bound to delay
the thing more or less. and he
didn't wish to be kept layin'
around. You never see such a
clear head as what he had and so
earn and so cool. just hunk of
brains-that was what he was.
Perfectly awful. It was ripping
distance from one end of that man 8
head to tother. Often and over
again he's had brain fever a-raging
in one place, and the rest OF the
pile didn't know anything about it
didn't affect it any more than an
Injun instruction in Arizona af-
fects the Atlantis States. Well,
the relations they wanted big fu-
neral, but corpse said he was down
on fummery.-didn't want any pro-
cession-fill the hearse full OF
mourners, and get out stern line
and tow him behind. He was the
most down on style of any remains
ever struck. A beautiful, simple
minded creature-it was what he
was, you can depend on that. He
was just set on having things the
way he wanted them, and lie took
solid comfort in having his little
plans. He had me measure him
and take q whole raft Of directions;
then he had the minister stand up
behind a long box with q table
cloth over it and read his funeral
sermon, saying 'Apgcore, angcore!'
at the good places, and making
him scratch out every bit Of brag
about him, and all the hifal1tin !;
and then he made them trot out
the choir, SOS he could help them
pick out the tunes for the occasion,
and he got them to sing Pop Goes
the Weasel because he always
liked that tune when he was down.
hearted, and solemn music made
him sad; and when they sang that
with tears in their eyes (because
they all loved him) and his rela-
tions grieved around, be just laid
there as happy as a bug. and try
ing to beat time and showing all
over how much he enjoyed it; and
presently he got worked up and
excited, and tried to join in, for
mind you he was pretty proud Of
his abilities in the singing limo ;
but the first time he opened his
mouth and was Just going to spread
himself, his breath took a walk. !
never saw q man snufed out 80
sudden. All. it was q great loss
it was a powerful loss TO this poor
little one horse town. Well, we'll,