The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-03-29

The poor little widow was nearly be
side herself at this news; and it was q:
much as we could do to get her and tht
boy off properly She promised faith
fully to return to us-nothing, she de
lclared, would induce her to remain witt
7 old Mrs. Murphyi but it was will
heavy hearts that we saw her depart
4 / am sorry to say that our Teutoni'
lpostman, instead of sharing his imam
orata's sorrow, was evidently in stat
of confused bliss-not much to bt
wandered at, perhaps, in the existing
state of things; but somewhat incon
venient in its results, as we were con
stantly favored with letters never in
terded for. US, while our rightful cor
respondence wandered elsewhere. W.
took genuine interest, however, il
this strange love affair, even while
sel6shly congratulating ourselves tina
the inevitable catastrophe of losing
Mary would not occur for some month:
yet.
Alasl it was nearer than we dreamed
On the third day, instead of Mary, a:
we had expected, there came letter
1 and the letter began with the astound
ing announcement that our ci-deUan
handmaiden was so happy that she
scarcely knew how to write to us!
People have different ideas of happi'
ness; but it really seemed to us that
slight degree of wnhappiness would
have been more becoming in Mrs
Murphy just then.
We went on with the letter in sort
of blank amazement, and read that, on
the writer's arrival at the Murphy man
sion, the first person she encountered
was the deceased himself. As may be
conjectured, he had never been dead al
all, although he had been very i'll with
fever in hospital, and, fancying him.
self dying, he had made the request to
have mis- remains sent on to his parents
The occupant of the next cot had died,
and the two became somewhat mixed
up in the minds of the officials-hence
the mistake, which, although incon-
venient, was cheerfully borne with for
the sake of seeing the lost son walk in
alive and well.
Clothed in his right mind, too; for he
had long ago deplored his evil ways,
and his industry and self-denial had &C
cumulated a nice little sum for the pur-
chase of cozy home nest. Thither
wife and child were to be taken at
once; and Mary wrote joyfully that she
never knew how much she loved Will
until she saw him standing before her
at his fathers door, when she supposed
him to be dead.
Not a word of poor Carl Blumenthal,
except to say that Will was so good, he
did not blame her or Mr.. B. in the
least, and would certainly shake hands
with the latter should he chance to
meet him-only, he was very glad that
| ne got nome Wnen ne QlQ.
erejoiced, of course, in Mary's joy
but, if the truth must be told, we were
very sorry for ourselves; and as to poor
Mr.. Blunenthal, he was scarcely to be
thought of at all-his future stretched
before US such gray, dismal blank.
We broke our dreadful news to him in
fragments, giving him a morsel at a
time as we thought him able to swal-
| low it
After long period of silence, the de-
serted Germen shook his head sorrow
fully, and said: "That one little wom-
an she have dreadful smile" (poor
fellow, he meant ''irresistible'D, sand
she speak German like to break my
heart. She should not ought to, with
her husband not dead"
Evidently he could not divest himself
of the idea that Mary was in some way
to blame for Mr.. Murphy's unexpected
appearance.
Brunhilda actually cried for SYM
pathy, and took a melancholy pleasure
in running to the door for our letters.
But such is the ingratitude of human
nature, that she was probably compar-
ed, somewhat to her disadvantage, with
the lost one.
4 About six months elapsed, when we
one day encountered our blighted
friend with fair-haired little woman
clinging to his arm and looking very
happy. She was evidently German, and
as evidently his wife; and he subse.
quently informed US that she was an
old sweetheart who had followed him
from home. She had arrived just at
the right time, to act as poultice fol-
the wounds inflicted by g that one little
woman" with the " dreadful SMILE"
This arrangement naturally made
things comfortable all around, with the
exception, perhaps, of two lone women
who had lost treasure that could not
be replaced. Bazaar.
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