possessed of an extra farm, or a store, or ready money, his afflicted relatives prove that he had been crazy several years before his death, that they may divide his effects to suit themselves, and which they afterwards spend in ribald and riotous living. The principal merit of this brief sketch, as the newspaper writers say, is its entire truthfulness. Deceased”--he inclined his head towards the coffin--“had an experience like that I have mentioned, except that she was a woman. Peace to her dust.” He spoke of his sister as “Deceased” as though that had been her name, instead of Maggie, or Jennie, or whatever it really was. “Now that she is Up There,” Mr. Biggs continued, after a short silence, waving his right hand toward the ceiling, “I do not care if I mention that Deceased had an unhappy disposition. She had that tendency when a very little girl (being an angel now, she will recognize what I am saying as the truth, and commend me for it), and was usually disagreeable to those around her. Whether her complaint was poor health or disappointed hopes I do not know, but as a man who believes that it is best to tell the truth at all hazards, I confess to you she died friendless. If there is not secret joy in this house that she is dead, then my philosophy avails me nothing, and I am as a ship on an unknown sea without rudder or compass.” The expression of “a ship without rudder or compass” seemed to please him, for he repeated it quite eloquently. “Speaking of ships reminds me of my late brother-in-law, whom I have never seen. When he promised to marry the clay which reposes in yon coffin, I was away from home--the exact facts are that I was chased away by my father, a quiet and honest worker in wood who objected to my noise and lying--but for a reason which seems to actuate all fools, I wrote home that I should never be entirely content until I had murdered the man who had bewitched my sister. I can’t tell at this time what caused me to do it, unless it was knowledge of a custom that whenever a girl marries, her brothers and father make fools of themselves (and at that time I was not above custom), for Captain Deming was a very worthy young man. I think he was greatly disgusted at the absurd manner in which we carried on, and if his spirit has been released from the deep, and is hovering around this place, I desire that he hear my declaration that I am ashamed of myself.” The little man was dramatic again, and waved his hands downward to represent the deep, and upward to represent the heavens.