Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-06-28
NOT A SUCCESS.
A Brighton Humorist Undertakes to Play
Practical Joke.

A Brighton Humorist Undertakes to Play
Practical Joke.
Sheriff ncMullin was the innocent cause
of sensation in usually quiet household
at Brighton the other evening. He started
out TO serve a Court summons on John
Rooney of that burg, in land case, and
also to serve some papers in a divorce
suit on a party who lives a few miles
farther on. he called at the Rooney farm
in the evening and drawing from his pocket
q tormidable-looking document, embel-
ished with Court and Notarial seals, pre-
sented the same to the head of the house
hold and then continued on his Journey
toward the Brison ranch, little dreaming of
the drama that was about to be enacted in
the Rooney household.
Mr.. Rooney, as soon as he received his
document, went into the house to read its
contents, when ne discovered that he had
been served with summons in a divorce
case. His keen native wit, which he had
brought with him from the old sod" Ie-
vealed the situation to him at once His
left eyelid inVoluntarily cooked itself up
ward for an instant and then resumed its
normal position, while the right-hand cor
ner of his month at the same time crawled
around toward his ear.
Be the holy smoke" said the Demo-
cratic leader OF Brighton, to himself I'll
have some fun with the old woman-d'ye
mind T" He sought the good lady with
out delay, and with a mock solemnity of
demeanor he told her to take a seat and
listen to him. He asked her if he had not
always been q kind and indulgent husband,
10 which she, with surprise and affection
struggling for the mastery, answered that
he had, indeed. Then the cruel man went
on 10 recall the days in the long ago, when
IN their youth they wandered together IN
the soft twilight OF their native isle and
pledged themselves to be loving and faith
full 10 one another, even unto the grave
how. through the storms and sunshine OF
later years they had never faltered nor lost
heart; how they had struggled for more
than a quarter of a century to build up
their present home and handsome compe-
tence, and how Providence had smiled on
them, until now, as the shadows were
frightening across their pathway, and
their locks were silvered with the corrod-
ing effects OF time, they had been able to
look back and feel that their lives had not
been lived in vain.
All of this the good lady-wondering
what strange spell had come over her hus-
band-said was true, but why did he re-
hearse these things now, and why that sad
look in the eyes OF her loved spouse?
Rooneys heart nearly forsook him at
this point, but his humorous proclivities
held the mastery, and he gravely unrolled
the tormldaolelooking document, with its
red ink, and seals, and high-sounding
legal phrases, and went on to read how
John Rooney was summoned to appear in
the Superior Court on q certain day and
show cause why the bonds of matrimony
existing between his wife and himself
should not be severed-or words to that
effect
Here the curtain falls upon the painful
scene, aud what TRANSFERRED within the next
hour will probably ever remain secret in
the breast of the Brighton humorist. All
that is known IS that Sheriff McMullin had
hardly reached home that night before
Rooney was at his door, covered with dust.
reeking with persp!ration, and with the
mischievous document, looking like man
who had been committing midnight raid
on sheep-ranch, or who had tried 10
do something funny and failed in the at
tempt