Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1891-08-13
TOMMY'S TOMBSTONE.


shrunk and so stretched from wrinkle to
wrinkle that it seemed narrowly to es-
cape breaking About the pointed chin
and the cheek bones it had the color of
faded brick.
Old Tommy had become so thin that
he dared not venture to the top Of the
hill above his native village of Rear
ward upon a windy day.
His knees bent comically when he
walked
For some years the villagers had been
counting the nephews and nieces to
whom the savings of the old retired
dealer in dry goods would eventually de-
scend.
Ten thousand dollars and house and
lot constituted heritage worth antici-
pating in Rearward.
The innocent old man was not upon
terms of intimacy with his prospective
heirs. Having remained unmarried, his
only close associates were two who had
been his companions in that remote
period which had been his boyhood.
One Of these Jerry Hurley, was child
d
ly respected man who ownedrwo farms.
The other, like himself a bachelor, was
Billy Skidmore, the sexton of the church
and therefore the regulator of the town
clock upon the steeple.
There came a great shock to old
Tommy one day. AS old Mrs. Sparks
said, Jerry Hurley, "all suddent like.
L. 1sa1
The wealth and standing of Jerry
Hurley insured him an imposing funeral.
They laid his body beside that which
had once been his wife's in Rearwood
cemetery His heirs possessed his farm
and time went on-slowly, as it always
does at Rearwood
Tommy went frequently to Hurley's
grave and wondered when his heirs
would erect monument to his memory.
1t is necessary that your grave be marked
with a monument if you would stand
high in that still society that holds eter-
nal assembly beneath the pines and will
lows where only the breezes speak, and
they in subdued voices
Years passed. and the grave of Tom
my's old friend. Jerry. remained un-
marked. Jerry's relatives had postponed
the duty so long that they had grown
callous to public opinion Besides, they
had other purposes to, which to apply
Jerry's money. 1t was easy enough to
avoid reproach; they had only to refrain
from visiting the graveyard.
Jerry never deserved such treatment" !"
Tommy would say to Billy the sexton
as the two met to talk it over every
sunny afternoon.
ats an outrage, that's what it isl
Billy would reply for the hundredth
time.
1t was, in their eyes, an omission al
most equal to that of baptism or the
funeral service.
One day as Tommy was aiding him
self along the main street of Rearward
by means of hickory stick, frightful
thought came to him. He turned cold.
What if his own heirs should neglect
to mark his own grave?
"Tll hurry home and put the money
for it aside in stocking foot at once. 81
thought Tommy, and his knees bent
more than usual as he accelerated his
pace.
But as he tied knot in the stocking
came the fear that even this money
might be msapplied: even his will
might be ignored through repeated post,
ponement and the laws Indifference.
Who, save old Billy Skidmore, would
care whether old Tommy McGuffy's last
resting place were designated or mott
Once let the worms begin operations
upon this antique morsel, what would ii
matter to Rearward folks where the
banquet was taking place?
Tommy now underwent a second at
tack of horror, from which he came vic
torious gleeful smile momentarily
lifting the dimness from his excessively
lachrymal eyes.
"rll fix EN-" he said to himself. "Tl
60 today to Ricketts,, the marble cutter
and order my own tombstone"
Three months thereafter Ricketts,, thu
marble cutter, united the knot in thu
stocking that had been Tommy's and de
posted the contents in the local saving
bank.
In the cemetery stood a new monu
ment, very lofty and elaborate. ArounC
it was an iron fence. Within the inclo
sure there was no grave as yet.
"Here," said the monument in deep
cut letters but bad English, "lies all tina
remains of Thomas McGuffy, born il
Rearwood, Nov. II, 1920: died -
Gone whittier the wicked cease from
troubling and the weary are at rest"
This supplementary information wa
framed in the words of Tommy's favor
ite passage in his favorite hymn Hi
liking for this was mainly on account Q
its tune.
He had left the date Of his death to b
inserted by the marble cutter after it
occurrence.
Rearward folks were amused at sigh
of the monument and they ascribed tn
placing of it there to the eccentricity G
a taciturn old man.
Tommy seemed to derive much pleas
nre from visiting his tombstone upo
mild days. He spent many hours cor
templating it. He would enter the iro
inclosure, lock the gate after him an
sit upon the ground that was intende
some day to cover his body.
He was familiar sight to people rit
ing or walking past the graveyard-th
thin old man leaning upon his cane, col
L :. AZ