Review: Horror Story: "The Lesser Brethern Mourn" by Seabury Quinn

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The narrator says the things in this story happened “when the other Roosevelt” was in the White House. He doesn’t often talk about them because the only person who believes him is his mother-in-law and she came from County Mayo. Back then, he was courting Monica and had a job as an assistant mortician. He was used to death. One night when his boss, Ambrose McGonigle, was out at a poker game in the back of McGhee’s grocery store, Bert Emmons burst into the office with the news that his uncle, Washington Kearney, had passed away. After some negotiation over the cost of the service (which Emmons had no intention of attending), the narrator has old Wash’s house key in hand. Later, his boss asks him to look in on old Wash on his way to visit Monica. It seemed the right thing to do and he figured Monica wouldn’t mind him being a little late, this being for work and all. What he finds at old Wash’s house first unnerves him, but he then comes to accept it. Old Wash had been a bit of an eccentric, quite fond of animals. Now the animals, both domestic and wild, are paying tribute. He doesn’t interfere. Two things stuck out in this story for me. First, the author referred to a short story by Ambrose Bierce, “John Mortensen’s Funeral,” that I reviewed here. Second, he makes reference to a quote supposedly from the Qur’an: “There is no kind of beast on earth, no fowl that flieth with its wings, but the same is a people like unto you; then unto their Lord shall they return.” This is from the Sura “The Cattle.” Overall, I like this little tale, hokey as it was. It is cute. Moreover, it is nice and life affirming from a guy who worked as mortician’s assistant. Author Seabury Quinn practiced law, specializing in mortuary jurisprudence and wrote on the side. One of his most popular characters was the occult detective Jules de Grandin, who battled supernatural forces in the pages of Weird Tales between 1925 and 1951. I have not been able to find an online version of this story. It seems to be available only as print in various anthologies. _____ Title: “The Lesser Brethren Mourn” Author: Seabury Quinn (1889-1969) First published: Strange Stories October 1940 Source: ISFDB http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?970879 * An earlier version of this story appeared on another site. It had been updated an expanded for its inclusion in myLot.*