The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-06-12

She came in from the country a few
days ago and ordered q maidstone fol-
the grave of her departed husband. The
marble-cutter was to have it ready yes.
| terday, when she was to come in again
with the inscription, have the letters
| carved on and take the stone away
She was on time, but she wore an
anxious, troubled look, having failed to
| write up such notice as she thought
the stone ought to bear.
GO want suthin' that'll do my poor
| dead Homer justiss," she explained to
the marble-cutter. 81 think I ought to
| have one or two verses of poetry, and
then a line or two at the bottom-suthin
like Meet me on the other Shore you
know"
The cutter said he thought he could
get up something, and she entered the
office, aud he took out twenty-three
| sheets of foolscap and three pen holders
and set to work, while she held her
breath for fear of disturbing his
thoughts. He ground away for while,
scratched out and wrote in, and finally
said he'd got the neatest thing that ever
went upo~ white marble. 1t read:
IN MEMORY
of
HOMER cLINK,
Who died
October 10, 1873.
Aged Al years. months. 81 days
MY husband was a noble man.
OF me he much did think
And I'll never see another man
Like my poor Homer Clink.
Isn't that bullv2" asked the man as
he finished reading the inscription.
Its purity fair, but -" replied
the widow.
bat what, MADAME"
"Why, you see, he was good and
kind, and was allus to hum nights, and
all that, but I may find another man
Just as good, you know. I have said
that I wouldn't marry again, but may
change my mind, and I guess we'd bet
ter tinker up that verse little. And
besides, you didn't get anything on the
bottom"
She went out and rambled among the
tombstones, while the cutter ground
away again, and just as she had become
interested in dog fight he called her
in and read the new inscription. The
first part was as before, but his poetry
read:
my husband is dead,
My poor Homer Clink,
And in the cold ground they have laid him !;
He was always home nights
Never got into fights.
But death come along and betrayed him.
=" shall meet him on the other shore, where
all is lovely, and where sickness never comes. :"
"There, how's that ?" inquired the
poet, bland smile covering his face.
"Seems to me as if that went right to
the heart "
The woman took the paper, read the
notice over four or five times, and final
l !, said
"I don't want to seem partikler about
this, and I know I'm maxim good deal
of trouble. That would do for most
any one else-it's the real poetry, but
I'd like suthin' kinder different, some
how. He WAS a noble man. He never
give me a cross word in his 1ife-not
one. He'd be out of bed at daylight,
start the fire. and never got up till I
heard him grinding the coffse. He was
good provider, he was. He never
bought any damaged goods because he
could git 'em cheap, and he never
scrimped me on sugar and tea, as some
folks do. can't help but weep when ]
think of him p
She sobbed away for while, and then
frightened up and said
"Of course, I'll meet him in heaven.
It's all right. As told you, may
never marry again, though can't tell
what I'll be driven to. Just try once
more" She sat down to an old almanac,
and the cutter resumed his pen. He
seemed to get the right idea at once,
and it wasn't fifteen minutes before he
had the third notice ground out. It
read: