Mexico weekly ledger., 1877-04-05

l looked out of my curtains at them, the
One Man said with a feebly concealed
yawn:
eyes, well, I reckon he was at one
time as popular an undertaken ez |
knew"
The Other Man ~(inventing a question
rather than giving an answer, out of
some languid social impulse)-But was
he-this yer endertaker-a Christian
he'd he jined the church?
The One Man (refectively)-Well, I
don't know ez you might call him a
purfessin' Christian; but he hedges,
he he'd conviction. 1 think DR.. Wylie
he'd him under conviction. Eft least that
was the way I got it from him.
A long, dreary pause. The Other
Man Feeling it was incumbent on him
20 say something)-But why was he
popler ez an Undertaken?
The One Man Qazily)-Well, he was
kinder popler with widders and wild
derers-sorter soothin' 'em a kinder
keerless way; slung 'em suthin here
and there, sometimes outer the Book,
sometimes outer himself, ez a man of
experience az he'd he'd sorror. He'd,
they say (very cautiously, lost three
wives hisself, and five children by this
yer new disease-dipthery-out in
Wisconsin. / don't know the facts,
but that's what got round.
The Other Man-But how did he loose
his %poplarityP
The One Maxwell, that's the ques-
ton. You see he introduced some
things into Undertaking that waz new.
He he'd, for instance, a way, as he
called it. of manipulating the features
of the deceased.
The Other Man (quietly)-How man
~niperlating?
The One Man (struck with a bright
and aggressive thought)-Look yer, did
We aver notiss how, generally speakin',
onhandsome a corpse is?
The Other Man had noticed this fact.
The One Man (returning to this fact)
Why, there was Mary PEBBLES, ez
was daughter of my wife's bosom friend
"a mighty poorly girl and a perfessing
Christian-died of scarlet fever. Well,
that gall was one of the mourners,
being my wife's friend-well, that gal,
though | hedn't, perhaps, oughter say
U2 III bAdO SdShCG3 1CGShCo III GAC
way from some Al establishment in
Chicago, filled with flowers and furbe-
lows-didn't really seem to be of much
account. Well, although my wife's
friend, md me a mourner-well, now,
l was-disappointed and discouraged.
The Other Man Tin palpably affected
sympathy)-Sho! now!
yes, sir! Well, you see, this yer
ondertaker-this Wilkins--hed a way
of correcting all tibet. And just by
manipulation. He worked over the
face of the deceased ontil he perduced
what the survivin' relatives called a
look of Resignation-you know, a sort
of smile, like. When he wanted to put
in any extrys, he produced what he
called-hevin' reglar charges for this
kind of work-a Christian's Hope"
The Other Mani want to know!
eyes. Well, l admit, al times it
was a little startlin'. And I've alters
said Ga little contidentially) that l he'd
my doubts of its being Scriptooral or
sacred, being, ez you know, worms of
the yearth; and | relieved my mind TO
our pastor, bat he didn'tfee like inter-
ferin', ez long ez it was confined to
church membership. But the other
day, when Cy Durham died-you dis
remember Cy Dunham?"
Along interval of silence. The Other
Man was looking u of the window,
and had apparently forgotten his COM
panion completely. But as | stretched
head out of the curtain | saw four
other heads as eagerly reached out
from other berths to hear the conclu-
sion of the story. One head, a female
one, instantly disappeared on my look
ing around, but q certain tremulous-
ness of her window curtain showed an
undated interest. The only two ut
terly disinterested men were the One
Man and the Other Man.
The One Man (~detaching himself Ian
guidly from the window)-Cy Dun
hamp
Eyes, Cy never he'd he'd either con-
victions or Professions. lister get
drunk and go round with permiscuous
m Sorter like the prodigal son,
only a little more so, ez fur ez | kin
Judge from the facts ez stated to HE.
Well-Cy M day petered out down at
Little Rock, and was sent up yer for
interment. The fammerly, being
proud-like, of course didn't spare any
money on that funeral and it WIZ
now between you and me-about az
shapely and first-class and prime-mess
affair ez I ever saw. Wilkins he'd put
in his extrays. He he'd put onto that
prodigal's face the AL touch-hed him
fixed up with a Christians Hope. Well
it waz about the turning point, for
thar swaz some of the members and the
pastor hisse'f thought that the line out
to be drawn somewhere, add thar waz
some talk at Deacon Tibbet's about a
regular conference meetin' regardin' it.
But it want thet which made him on
poplar"
Another silence-no expression nor
reflection from the face of the Othe
Man of the least desire to know whaC
ulti 4nately settled the unpopularity of
the undertaken. But from the curtains
of the various berths several eager and
one or two even wrathful faces anxious
for the result.
The Other Man (lazily recurring to