The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-15
CUTTER TO THE UNDERWATER.
Runaway s~cuIptor's hole In q Western
Town-suggested by q Mistake.

Suggested by q oman MISTAKE.
Il had a funny incident in a Lexing-
ton avenue car the other day." said
one man to another. Il was going
home. and ] was reading. On my right
was a quietly dressed woman. I be-
came conscious. without seeing the act.
that she was looking at me rather more
steadfastly than a woman usually looks
at a man. I must have had that ron
seriousness a half hour when she spoke.
"'You will pardon me IL | am
mistaken she said. Are you not
Mr.. -
Il was not Mr.. =. and I so informed
the inquirer. She was either dissatisfied
with my answer or very uncomfortable
over her mistake. for a woman doesn't
often blunder I'm that way. She ook
at me straighter than before. after
which she made this break:
You look so much like Mr.. -, the
undertaken. who had charge of the
funeral of my dead friend, Mrs. =,
l thought you were he
81 said II was a funny incident. And
so IL was at the time. but the thought
that ! look like an undertaken does not
become hilarious as IL recurs. OF course
the notion may not be well ounded. l
never met an undertaken in my life
to my knowledge. But you know how
prone you are to associate a mans face
Will HE buriutSr. u ubn I N W lniuh.
nevertheless. that 1 am liable to be
taken for an undertaken, least OF all by
a woman"
The man who had listened replied: 81
don't know. It's a good business at
times. ] was In IL once. Don't be
scared. IL was many years ago. You
know It was intended that I should be
a sculptor. My lea mothers fancy.
Well, after I got so ] could chisel "A bit
n ran a xxTD ~ fFnDn hama ANanf nlIf NNnEf
to be a cowboy. Same old story. sick
ness and not a cent. There was no
opening In my line in that country. The
nearest approach was the tombstone
business. and there was not much Of
that. But I found n man who was
undertaken and tombstone cutter and
I offered my service In m latter line.
He confessed to me that he could lay
'em out and plant EN- as he put IL.
but he couldn't cover EN- So l fitted
In. and got a job at once.
One day while was carving "a
cherub the boss came i'm with "A woman
who was hung all over with the habili-
ments OF grief. For that remote sec
ton she was. To use n quotation from a
society report. deliberately gowned, re-
gardless.' The boss presented her I'm
the following words. as nearly as i can
recall them:
Mr.. b. this lady Is the widow of
the deceased MIR. -. He was on
the stage when he met his death, and
after his demise l buried the body. m
his widow desires something appro-
pirate. She has selected the stone. a1d
wants to tell you what to cut on IL.
Maybe you can help her out with an
appropriate quotation
with that the boss left us. ] In
quired of the widow what line of the
business her husband had been
I'm, with a view of making the quota
tion appropriate. She lifted her veil
and looked at me In a way shall never
forget, and she said:
II reckon the undertaken don't quite
understand. jim was on the stage when
he died. But Il va because they was
two to one again him. for Jim was a
dead shot. Nothin' ever got away from
him before
II said, 'Ncs. ma'am.' because IL was
the only thing :, say.
You und ere TAM I reckon?' she con-
tinued. ''7gatively.
II said I did, and then 7 asked her IL
she had thought OF anything appro-
pirate to be carved. for blest IL ] wasn't
a stump.
1.-THE she took from a fat purse a bit
of paper which she opened up n
over to me with the remark
IL was something she had came
across in a California magazine and IL
had struck her al 'bein' fittin' To be on
Jim's monument
II read. In good chlrography, this quo
tation:
Earth cunts n mortal less,
Heaven an angel more
We'll. I cut the words on the monu-
ment. and I went with the w~orkingmen
to have the stone set up. And IL was
standing i'm the cemetery OF a Kansas
10 years ago when I was out
there. just where we put II 20 years
ago and more. But since IL was put
somebody had a crown and a pistol
carved under the quotation which l
had cut at the widows request. The
sexton was a new man when | was
there on a visit. and he could not tell
me when the emblems of Jim's death
and future state were carved. or by
whom. i returned to my home In the
East after I had carved out a few more
i'm the West. but I left my
chisel and mallet him Here's where
/ get off."-New York sun.