The newspaper., 1906-05-04

smile-the corners of his mouth
drooped, and he usually carried
clay pipe in one corner, bowls mouth
downward. His face was yellow
with bile, and he talked with a sing
song whine, and therefore after
time the people of Smyrna forgot
that his baptismal name was An
drew and called him "Mournful. y
After his wife died the name htted
him better.
He resisted all entreaties OF his
wifes relatives who wanted her
buried in the Cross Hill Cemetery
where her kin lay in state, grouped
about the Cross family monument
and to which she had prudently as
cribed her mite. Mullen, with evil
dent intention to indulge his melan-
choly to the extent, delved through
her favorite pansy bed and buried
her in the front yard, where he could
see the grave as he rocked at the sit
ting-room window and smoked his
pipe after he had finished the chores.
He had the coffin-plate framed, rest
ing gruesomely on bed OF black
velvet, and hung it against the wall
in the moldy smelling best room.
Frequently, as he was about to re-
tire, he went creaking in, shielding
the lamp with his hand, to gaze on
the relic and sigh a mournful sigh.
Some one in the village remem-
hafnra nj the
Mullen family, Aunt Roxy, had sue
cumbed to her melancholy and had
allowed herself to sink silently and
mournfully down into the oozy
depths of the mill pond close to the
dam.
Therefore, after due and cautious
consultation, iovial little Parson
Collins went around to have talk
with "Mournful'' Mullen and en-
deavor to perk him up.
His host took him into the best
room, despite his protestations that
the call was purely informal, and
sat down opposite, silent and lugu-
brious. Once he hooked a thumb
toward the coffin-plate and observed:
81 ordered extry-coated plate so l
can scour it when it gifts tarnished.' y
"But it really seems to me, Brother
Mullen, that you ought to fix your
heart and memories on the skies in
stead OF on the lowly tomb, "expost-
ulated the little minister. eve
should think of our dear sister as
dwelling in the realms Of bliss. No
matter how worthy your motives
may be in preserving the-the article
on the wall there, it only takes your
mind off the higher and the better
things that have come to your dear
helpmeet'
The pastor could see the lowly
grave through the window and he
shivered in the cheerless room. His
legs were short and he kept slipping
off the hair-cloth sofa, upon whose
stiff surface he made about as much
impression as he did on the feelings
and resolutions of the widower.
The little minister went away from
the house with a fit of the blues that
lasted him week. lie uOlu Ills Wlle
that he was always ready to be a
stay in time of trouble, but that he
didn't believe he was called upon to
become an anchor OF hope for any
such dark depths as "Mournful' Null
len sought.
Therefore the minister kept away
and the villagers followed his exam
pie, because folks in this world have
enough troubles OF their own with
out hunting for woe as distilled by a
"Mournful'' Mullen. At the end OF
the first year of his widowhood he
was SO sunk in gloom that he seemed
fairly to drip melancholy, as the
walls of tomb drip dampness.
When he came to the store OF an
evening sometimes, Uncle Hiram
Ring, well-known in Smyrna as a
hector, affected to feel a chill and
would either put on his ear-lappers
and hug the stove, or hurry out
with his back rounded up and flap
ping his arms in vigorous attempt
to warm up.
"For a man that's got the best