For comparison a lite app also won't serve from same directory, only from public

$ mojo generate  lite_app
  [exist] ...\goner
  [write] ...\goner\myapp.pl
  [chmod] ...\goner\myapp.pl 744

$ md public

$ echo in public > public\hi.txt

$ echo in same > no.txt

$ perl myapp.pl get /hi.txt
[Sat Jun 20 11:30:28 2015] [debug] Your secret passphrase needs to be 
+changed
in public

$ perl myapp.pl get /no.txt |wc --lines
[Sat Jun 20 11:30:36 2015] [debug] Your secret passphrase needs to be 
+changed
[Sat Jun 20 11:30:36 2015] [debug] GET "/no.txt"
[Sat Jun 20 11:30:36 2015] [debug] Template "not_found.development.htm
+l.ep" not found
[Sat Jun 20 11:30:36 2015] [debug] Template "not_found.html.ep" not fo
+und
[Sat Jun 20 11:30:36 2015] [debug] Rendering inline template "fd403ab5
+5a4c875e35b42428816134c7"
[Sat Jun 20 11:30:36 2015] [debug] Rendering inline template "dd85456c
+f9f44e1e43bebae130a7f9df"
[Sat Jun 20 11:30:36 2015] [debug] 404 Not Found (0.050898s, 19.647/s)
540
[download]