Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-01-07
THE sNUFFcOLORED SUIT.

move myseifd, and when I tried to
possible to do Stspeak I found 1t i'm :
must be In somc yS coacluded that 7
or I could not selxht dark place. 7
earned that, though pc. fact 1 soon 9
.cious, l could do nothing billy con- .
loor opened and footsteps sbprer. A y
tut I felta cloth taken from Thy ed. :
md voice which | recognised as0.I 9
II Mr.. Jones, the father Of my W.
hat was to be, said -
"He hasn't changed much" and his I
whose voice ! knew to b
he village undertaker, Hopkins BY |
lame, lightly said /, 81
"Better-lookink dead than alive
How does Jerushs feel About.it2 Take |
N much 2" s
ooh, no, she had her eye on another |
elbow anyhow, ,snd better match, too,
excepting the money part. Though =
,ad nothing against Ben, only he didn't i
Znow much, and was about the home
lest man I ever knew. 6ucha mouth
Why It reslly aeemed as though he was
Eoing.t0 swallow knife, plats, and al
hen he opened 1t at dinner"
usyell,n said the cheerful voice Of
.uuat;--ns, "he,ll never open his mouth
asan and then he proceeded to
.Le.Te LIo for my coffin, for Il seemed
was, which Ta or 3, ina. .ss 'ney @ snonghi ,, ~
heard seard pS pS'ns. nndssthe he undertaken; | had
% wh;s.ieS a ;or9nISv r1J1ers who always
e massnre Jo int Men they got .
before. But that man k.us,iv ivor wh;s
tied q subdued dancing tut while he
measured me. and It seem 4 ~ ma
that three or four icicles were ai,;nS NJ %
down my back, to the music Of The
whistle.
His duty done, they covered my face
ag ain and left me TO my own reflec-
tions, which were not particu)arly COM
forting, although had ofte1 heard it
remarked, that meditation vas good
for the soul, and this wasf the best
chance / had ever had Of trying it.
An hour must have passed Nhen the
came Whispering along t. NIere I lsy,
and the voice Of my promised wife fell
upon my car.
II dread to look al him, Bob /; he was
90 mortal homely, alive, he must be
frightful, dead"
I ground my teeth in Imagination, as
/ remembered how often she had gone
into raptures, or pretended to, over my
noble brow, and expressive mouth ;
and how she had often declared that ii
surely pine away -af7rw. her she would
One Of them raised the cloth, and
knew they were looking at me. Bot
was her second cousin, and knew he
was that "other fellow" whom hel
father had mentioned.
"Seems to me you don't feel very
bad about his dying, Rusha, remarked
Bob, meditatively.
swell, to tell the TRUTH" said my
dear betrothed, II don't care very
much about it. If he had lived should
have married him, because he was
rich and father wanted me to; but
was getting about sick of my bargain,
for knew I should always be asha-
med of him, he looked SO much like 4
baboon.
But you loved him." remarked
Bob
"No, I didn't. Ny affections were
" wasted long ago upon one who never
returned my love !" and my fast.fadins
idol sighed heavily.
They had covered my face by thii
time and were standing few steps
from where l lay.
"About how long ago, Rusha asked
Bob.
"A year, or such matter" with an
other deep sigh, which ended In . a
Of sneezing.
aAbout the time went away ?" In
terrogatcd the cautious Bob, coughing
. little.
swell, yes, some'rcs near" assentei
my dear sfiiancied.
"Now, Jsrusha, yon don't mean e
insinuate that L"
| "I don'tmean to insinuate any thinf
Bob Smith |" and the angelic sweet
ness Of her voice just little shar
pened.
SNOW, see here, Rusha. I've loved
You eyer since you were knee high to ,
gopher, but thought when you CAM
home that you was sweet on that othel
chap but swan believe you Liked
me all the timer
"Oh, Bobp said my was.to-be, in
gushing sort Of way.
aMine own Jerushaw remarked
Bob.
Then heard subdued rush, &C
lcompanied by violent lip explosions
tried to kick, or crate my teeth, o
do something to relieve my outrages
feelings, but not kick nor q graf
could I raise. 1t was an awful fire Il
be in but had to stand 1t, or rathe
| Law it, SO laid still and let 'em alon
until they got tired of it. and thel
went out, aud I was again left to m,
own pleasant reflections.
| Night came, and 90 did q lot o
young fellows with their girls, to 81
up with me; and they had joll,
| time of it, although II WAS against m,
principles to enjoy II ON 80 solemn a
occasion. ,.Ss
II seemed an age until morning, bu
it came at last and they went away.
heard them say that I was 70 be burie,
THAT day at 2 o'clock, and / was begin
ming to feel decidedly shaky, when Je
rushs and her mother came into th
room and began arranging for the fu
neral. M
"Rnsha," said her mother, "here I
that snufT.colored suit Of poor Ben's
| OF course he will never have any NOR
use for clothes, 80 just put them ava
among your carpet-raxs; they'll max
. splendid stripe .'.'st
Now that particulaf suit OF clothe
was just the ncatest ono I ever owned
arm holes, collars, Wristbands, button
all just the thing. and my blood boile
to hear them ,aiksoh coolly of usin
them for stripes ina rag carpet. The
kept on talking as they swept, dnste
and cleaned up the room.
"Bob says he will take the Marti
farm to work this year." said Jerusn
cheerfully, .sand as soon as We are maj
ried We shall go to housekeeping
that little cottage close to the rOal
Il - - IA - =