# Mr. Gingham — Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town character guide

> Mr. Gingham in Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Golgotha Gingham, Golgotha Gingham, Gingham

**First appearance:** 0001-sunshine-sketches-of-a-little-town

## Snapshot

Mariposa's undertaker and a man of unexpected poetic ambition, whose advertisements for the dead reveal a buried author longing for a more attractive subject.

## Who they are

Mr. Gingham runs the local undertaking business, but his real passion is verse, and his advertisements for funerals betray a poet who could have written on death more attractively than Bryant's Thanatopsis. He is a prominent citizen whose trade keeps him close to the town's sorrows, yet his literary aspirations give him a comic dignity that sets him apart from Mariposa's more prosaic merchants. His presence in the early chapters adds a layer of wry commentary on the town's relationship with mortality and ambition.

## Relationships

### [Mr. Smith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sunshine_sketches_of_a_little_town_se/characters/mr_smith)

_friendship_

Mr. Gingham is a regular customer and friend of Mr. Smith, often seen at the hotel bar.

### [Rev. Dean Drone](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sunshine_sketches_of_a_little_town_se/characters/rev_dean_drone)

_social_

Mr. Gingham is a parishioner who interacts with Reverend Dean Drone in church and community settings.

### [Mr. Smith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sunshine_sketches_of_a_little_town_se/characters/mr_smith)

_friendship_

Mr. Gingham is a regular customer and friend of Mr. Smith, often seen at the hotel bar.

### [Mr. Smith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sunshine_sketches_of_a_little_town_se/characters/mr_smith)

_friendship_

Mr. Gingham is a regular customer and friend of Mr. Smith, often seen at the hotel bar.

## In the story

### [The Hostelry of Mr. Smith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sunshine_sketches_of_a_little_town_se/chapters/i-the-hostelry-of-mr-smith)

Undertaker who collects vital statistics; estimates the population based on the number of deceased; present in the back bar when the telegram arrives.

### [VI: The Beacon on the Hill](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sunshine_sketches_of_a_little_town_se/chapters/vi-the-beacon-on-the-hill)

His assistant is mentioned in a rumor about carrying a kerosene can with Mr. Smith on the night of the fire.

### [X: The Great Election in Missinaba County](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sunshine_sketches_of_a_little_town_se/chapters/x-the-great-election-in-missinaba-county)

The undertaker and advanced Liberal who engages a special assistant for embalming Conservative customers at election time.

### [XI: The Candidacy of Mr. Smith](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sunshine_sketches_of_a_little_town_se/chapters/xi-the-candidacy-of-mr-smith)

Undertaker who admits he was secretly a Conservative all along.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sunshine_sketches_of_a_little_town_se/characters/mr_gingham
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sunshine_sketches_of_a_little_town_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/sunshine_sketches_of_a_little_town_se/characters