Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1903-02-26
UNDERTAKER DOONAN'S ROUGHBOX
cepyrlsht. I9os by DAIIy stogy PubIIshina any
By ALLAlS ?. AMns


Patrolman McGuirk had never been
favorite with the sergeant; and
when Lannigan Iea. ned that he as
pired to the hand of Mary Doonan he
swore that he should be broke"
"The nerve of a lad that hasn't been
on the force more'n a year tryin' TO
buck up aginst mel" said Lannigan.
me, that was district president when
he wasn't big enough to set pail on
top OF bari Not that I'm afraid Of
the likes Of him. / know women as
well as l know bosses. It's list his
amasln gall"
When McGuirk heard Of his SUI
perior's determination he worried
little, although not over his chances
with Miss Doonan. Mike Lannigan
might be a police sergeant and big
man in his ward, but the fact re-
NAMED that he was a widower with
two children and he wore a fifty-two.
inch belt. Marty McGuirk was straight
as a Iamp-post and 1.-the as a panther
and six feet in his wooden stockings.
No one but Lannigan thought him pre-
sumptuous when he began paying at
tention to the daughter of Undertaken
Doonan. Forewarned Of the sergeant's
enmity, he performed his duties more
carefully than ever, but made no Sc
cret Of his ambition to become Mr..
Doonan's sonin-law.
Bafied in his attempts to catch his
rival mapping, Lannlgan played his
last card: he had the young patrol
man transferred to a beat where the
object of their rivalry resided. This
made it necessary for Marty to pass
the undertaker's shop several times
day, a temptation before which even
an older and less ardent sutton might
have trembled.
One night it was so cold that poor
Marty faneied that he could hear the
metal buttons on his OvercOat snap
with the frost. AS he paced past
Doonan's he could see the great stove
in the shop on the ground floor glow
ing like a red meteor. For a moment
he stopped to gaze at the cheerful pic
ture through the plate glass window,
then walked on, thrashing his arms
against his breast and wiggling his
toes inside his boots to keep the blood
in circulation. When Mary and he
were married he determined that
they should own a stove of the same
pattern. The thought of toasting him
self there while Mary brought his
slirpers and something hot to drink
was comforting, but poor substitute
for the reality, and he found himself
shortening his patrol to turn and pass
the shop again.
This time as he approached he OBJ
served that the freight illuminated
the walk less brightly than before.
When he came opposite he discovered
! the reason: someone was standing be-
tween himself and the stove, looking
out the window. The next moment
the door opened just a crack and a
voice called softly, "Ain't you cold,
Mr.. McGuirk? Do step in for a sec
ond and have heat"
The young policeman could no more
refuse than he could have resisted an
invitation to pass the gates of Para
disc. "SGre, an it's good Of ye to be
talkin' pity on a poor lad" said he as
she led the way into the family sitting
room and drew up a chair near almost
as big a stove as the one he had been
admiring.
"Its terrible shame to make a hui
man being walk the streets on a night
like this" said Mary; land I'd be
worse than heather to let you freeze
at my door. Fathers out and moth
er's gone to bed, so you'll please ex.
cuse me for not telling her you're
here"
Marty simulated polite regret and
straightway forgot such trivialties as
time and space. His first reminder of