San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-07-20
Story or a Monument

one was hanusome and weaI,h.
young widow. and had but lust I" Ssaay
husband. Full of grief over tS s' aes
of her loved one, she sought dssI.. Os
monuments, a friend of the dess y
parted. We
Seeing the sympathetic face o, l..
husbands friend, the tears burst a,, agt
from her eyes, as she greeted him AN
bing:
"You have heard it, George is CON. 1.
Yes, he had heard it, 'A''
"And now said she, II want 10 -.
a monument, the finest and most se
posing monument that you can man
l don't care for the expense. You LsSA
them costing $4,000, do you not p sSs
ventured. 'A'
Oh, yes, he could build her snlsn
did monument for that. He would n,a
pare design and submit it to her e
"You will have it ready soon, will W,
not 2" she pleaded. "This EVENING"
"No; not this evening"" he replisa
but he would hurry it up as fast as nos.
sible and would bring it to her resi-.
dence. And so it was settled, and aha
went away very grateful for the ready
sympathy, and anxiously expectant iOr
the design.
Then the monument man got out an
old design and had it transferred TO
clean piece of paper, and in fifteen
minutes was ready for the widow, but
of course it wouldn't do to show IN for
a week or SO. The long days dragged
out their weary length finally, and the
marble man assumed an appropriated
funereal countenance, sought out The
widow, and submitted his work, he
found her somewhat more reconCilsdtO
her loss and little inclined to be crit,
ical. but on the whole she was pleased
with the design.
aBut," she said, "I have been talking
over the matter with my sister, and she
thinks $4,000 ought to buy very nice
monument. Couldn't you make one
like that for $5,000?"
mo-" responded he, "but l can build
YOU a handsome monument for $1,000.
Shall I make design for one at that
fgure?"
aYes; I wish you would, please, and
I will come to your office and examine
it in week or two"
81 will bring it to you"
"Oh, no; I won't trouble you to do
80. There is no particular hurry about
it, and I will call upon you; it's my
turn, YOU know" and she smiled gra.
ciously upon him as she bowed him
out.
Well, what was q poor monument
man to do? He could only wait, busy
ing himself meanwhile in getting up
elabor ate and really beautiful designs,
One day he met the lady on the street.
dressed in the merest apology Tor hall
mourning. He bowed obsequiously,
and informed her that the design was
finished, and he thought could not fail
to be perfectly satisfactory.
ooh" she said, II have been SO busy,
don't you know, with one thing and an.
other, that I have forgotten all about
it. Let me see; how much was that 10
cost?"
give thousand dollars"
"Oh, dear, I really can't afford to pay
that much. Now couldn't you" this
very bewitchingly, make real nice
monument for $5OO?" l know you
can, and I will come around and SEQ
you soon. Goodbye"
Then the monument man went TO lib
Office and told his grief to three
legged lamb and stone angel:
Some time after this, the charming
widow, with male friend whom she
called "Charley," dropped in again,
"Do you know" said she, 81 feel SO
ashamed that I never came around 70
look at your pretty designs. Charley
and have concluded that those grea'
costly ornaments are so foollsn' al!el
ones dead, you know. We think l's
wicked, don't we, Charley?
Charley allowed that it was. r..,o
"But," she continued, "those little
white boards such as they put up az tne
soldiers graves. Charley and 1lin n
are very nice. So neat and unpre'en
tious. Couldn't you make one OF them
for me and put Georges monogram ~
it? His initials make a very pre''y
monogram. suI,
The monument mans cup was iql'
and he spilled over on them. no M
told her that Charley could get an ola
shingle and tack one of Georges puSi'
ness cards on it.
First Efinrt.