Norwich bulletin., 1919-01-01
A MAN NAMED MURPHY

MY dear, "admonished the matron
as she paused in the rolling of a ban
dage and looked fondly at the girl
beside her, don't you ever marry a
man named Murphy
4 wasn't thinking of it, murmured
the girl, meellly.
well, if you do you will be sorry.
Much as l love John, it's been a ter
rible trial to wear the name ten mil
lion other women have Sometimes it
gets to be almost as personal as wear
ing their clothes. And you do get the
bills for their clothes. One morning
at breakfast John opened letter from
a department store where I do most of
my buying and have a charge account.
1t contained a bill for a fur coat
debtor, Mrs. John Murphy, price $500.
You should have heard John ravel I
didn't say a word-the best thing to
do when the Irish start that is simply
nothing. l continued to sip my coffee
calmly and pretty soon when he quiet
ed down l said there was one Mrs.
John Murphy in town whom I envied,
and I thought $500 fur coats must be
awfully warm. Then the old dear got
wise and we both laughed. Result:
got a five pound box of chocolates
about o'clock that evening"
81 haven't heard anything very ter
rible yet" commented the girl. IF you
keep on I'll be looking for an unat-
tached Murphy myself"
ooh, those were just the amusing
things that happen, but, let me tell
you, some mighty provoking things &C.
| cur Why, l was served with divorce
| papers one morning and for one wild
instant l tried to conjure up my
marital faults that had induced John
| to FOL - -+O n
as soon as | came to my senses ]
| knew it was the fighting Murphys
| around the corner who were appealing
| to the law All the same it gave me
| a bad minute
'And the mistakes go on year after
| year, never growing less, though. of
| course, one does become recon ciIed.
| have filled other womens dinner en-
| gagements, read their love letters. re-
| ceived their telephone calls and been
I dunned for their bills. Once a beau
tiful brooch was delivered to me
With love from John, scrawled on a
card exactly like the cards >John uses.
I I wore the brooch to a tea that after
noon and the women admired it so
much. That night when John came
home, after 1 had <nOthered him with
! kisses, he asked me why the unusual
ardor. He hadn't sent me the pin at
! ALL But that turned out all right. I
cried and John picked up the brooch
| and said it was a darned pretty thing
! and he guessed his wife was just as
classy as any Murphy woman in town,
so got a replica of that pin the next
day.
DO you know any nice boys named
Murphy" eagerly interrupted the girl
as she dropped the bandage she was
rolling.
You shocking child! Don't tempt
fate. A couple of months ago I had
on my newest, smartest froclI ready
to go to a bridge party, when the
phone rang and a gruff voice demand
ed, Mrs. John Murphy? This is cen
trail police station. We have your hus-
band in custody. He claims he left
his registration card home in the
pocket of his blue serge suit; better
bring it down.
'T couldn't understand John for
getting his registration card because
he was so proud that he was young
enough to register that he positively
strutted, and when he first got the
card I'll bet he looked at it dozens OF
times each day.
well, I rushed in and explored the
, pockets of every other suit he owns
but I could not find the card. Then
went through his desk clliffonier. ev-
cry likely hiding place, but to no avail
Finally. I decided I'd go to the police
5 station and tell them what | thought