Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1896-04-11
HE COULD NOT co.
The Sad Fate of Melponenus Jones, q
Curate Devoid of Courage.

bcVoAu VI
Some people--not you or I, because We
are so awfully self possessed, but some
people--fnd great difficulty in saying good
| by when making u call or spending the
evening. As the moment draws nea,
when the visitor feels that he is fairly On
! titled to go away he rises and says abrupt
| ly, "Well, think p Then the people
say: 'Oh, must you 60 now? Surely it's
early yeti" and pitiful struggle ensues.
I think the saddest case of this kind Of
thing that ever knew was that of my
poor friend Melpomenus Jones, curate--
such dear young man. and only g3! He
| simply couldn't get away from people
He was too modest to tell lie and toe
religious to wish to appear rude. Now II
happened that he went to call on some
friends of his OH the very first afternoon
of his summer vacation. The next si1
weeks were entirely his own-absolutely
nothing to do. He ohatted awhile, drank
two cups of tea, then braoed himself fol-
the effort and said suddenly:
"Well, think r.
| But the lady of the house said: "Oh
no, Mr. Jones! Can't you really stay q
little longerf'
Jones was always truthful. "Oh, yes, .
he said "of course I--er-can stay"
"Then please don't go''
| He staid. He drank II cups of tea
| Night was falling He rose again. .
"Well, now" no said shyly, II think ]
really
"You must go?" said the lady politely
81 thought perhaps you could have staid
to dinner
"Oh. well, so / could, you know" Jones
| said, IT,
"Then, please stay. I'm sure my hus
band will be delighted"
GAN right" he said feebly, ''I'll stay. y
And he sank back into his chair, just full
of tea and miserable.
Papa came home. They had dinner. All
through the meal Jones sat planning to
| leave at $3.50. All the family wondered
whether Mr.. Jones was stupid and sulky
or only stupid.
After dinner mamma undertook to
"draw him out" and showed him photo.
| graphs. She showed him all the family
museum, several gross of them-photos OF
papa's uncle and his wife, and mammals
brother and his little boy, an awfully In
teresting photo of papa's uncle's friend In
his Bengal uniform, an awfully we'll tax
On photo of papa's grandfather partner
dog and an awfully wicked one of papa
as the devil for fancy dress ball.
| AT $3.50 Jones had examined II photo
| graphs. There were about SO more that
| he hadn't. Jones rose.
II must say good night now" he plead
ed
"Say good night!'' they said. "Why, it's
only half-past s! Have you anything tC
do?''
"Nothing," he admitted, and muttered
something about staying six weeks an6
then laughed misorably.
just then it turned out that the favorite
child Of the family-such dear little
romp--had hidden Mr.. Jones' hat. Sc
| papa said that he must stay, and Invited
him to q pipe and chat. Papa had the
pipe and gave Jones the chat, and still he
staid. Every moment he meant to take
the plunge but couldn't. Then papa be.
gan to get very tired of Jones, and fldgeted
and finally said, with jocular irony, that
Jones had better stay all night; they could
his meaning and thanked him, with tears
in his eyes, and papa put Jones to bed in
the spare room and cursed him heartily.
After breakfast next day papa went off
to his work in the city and left Jones
playing with tho baby, broken hearted
His nerve was utterly gone. He was
meaning to leave all day, but the thing
had got on his mind, and he simply
couldn't. When papa came home in the
evening, he was surprised and chagrined
to find Jones still there. He thought to
jockey him out with jest and said he
thought he'd have to charge him for his
board-he, hel The unhappy young man
stared wildly for a moment, then wrung
papa's hand, paid him months board in
advance and broke down and sobbed like
child.
In the days that followed he was moody
entirely in the drawing room, and tho lack
Of air and exercise began to toll sadly on
his health. He passed his time in drink
ing tea and looking at tho photographs.
He would stand for hours together gazing
at the photograph Of papa's uncle's friend
in his Bengal uniform-talking to it,
sometimes swearing bitterly at it. His
mind was visibly failing
At length.the crash came. They carried
him up stairs in raging delirlum Of fever.
The illness that followed was terrible. He
recognized no one, not even papa's uncle's
friend in his Bengal uniform. At times
he would start up from his bed and shrek,
well, I think r. and then fall back upon
the pillow with horrible laugh. Then,
again, he would leap up and cry: "Anoth-
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