Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1872-01-27
MK WIDOW.
BY SHIRLEY BROWNE.

Earnum advised me 10 remain 40
old bachelOr-told me q man past
gorty, simply made = fool Of himself
by matrimony-
'Tewksbury-a man who is noto-
rious for never minding his own
business-told me she had made
love affair with Harry Birmingham,
before he went South.
Allen shook his head, and said
Clara Myers might be very pretty,
but he liked somebody maturer and
more settled. (N. Bile married !
his housekeeper the next week, and
she is mature enough for Msthusa-
leh himselfD
Everybody thought 1 was trying |
A dangerous experiment, but / din'nt
pretend TO suit everybody-so ] sim
nlV suited myself, went quietly 10
church with Clara Myers, and mar
ried her one glorious January morn
ing when the caves of old ST. PauPs |
were fringed with glittering iciclos,
and the brisk wind was freighted |
with particles of flying snow, like q
battalion OF diamonds on the
double-quick.
She was nineteen, and was nine
and-thirty. She was as beautiful as
2 rosebud, with q shy, pretty way,
ike a timid child, aud am rough
old codTer, sound enough at heart,
but like a winter apple, unpromi-
sing on the exterior.
In short, we were as unlike as
Nav and November, aud the good
natured world shook its head, and
said. emo good could come of such
An UNEQUAL match" But she said
she loved me, and / believed her.
Nobody could look into Clara's blue
ewes, and not believe her, you see:
And the next day made a will,
and bequeathed all my property, un-
conditionally to my wife.
0Are YOU sure you are doing
wise thing, Mr.. Folliott 2" said Mar
dyn, the lawyer, pushing his blue
| sDectacles up on his forehead, until
he looked like a bald old gRome,
with a double pair of eyes. a" on
see, she is very much younger than
srPlease to be so kind as to mind
vour own business" said /, brus-
aueIy. aDon't be offended, Mar
dyn, but really, people seem TO sup
pose am not able to attend TO my
own affairs"
"Just as you please" said Mar;
dyn, in a rage. 81 am mere TOOL
in your hands W
siThat's it, exactly" said 1. So 1
signed the will and went home to
aOh, Paul, you must not diel'
said Clara. with q scared look, when
toId her what / had done. emo
body ever loved me as truly and
I Generously as you have done, and !
don't szHow -tliet I should do IL you
were taken awayl"
"There was young birmingham,
If all reports were true" mis-
| chievousiy began, but the curl on
CIara's lip stopped me.
I" A mere butterfly" she said
hau0htiIy, "withOut either brains
or principle. Paul, Paul, have
found a shelter IN your true, loving
heart, and mean to nestle there al
And then she cried-this foolish,
soft-hearted little wife of mine.
Jones and Tewksbury might have
called this policy. Farnum would
have said il was acting. But il was
very pleasant, and / felt more than
ever like man who has found some
precious lie vel, and wears il, like an
amulet, on his breast.
So things went on until the firm
of which / was managing partner
, needed to send some one TO Calcutts
to see after turbaned scoundrel oi
an agent. who had absconded witt
more money than we could well af
! ford to lose. Morrison was old anc
feeble-Hewitt's wife lay very Ill
so l was the one to 90. kisseC
Clara goodbye as cheerfully as
could. fully expecting to be back II
three months or so. But-you know
the old French adage-Thomme
! propose, ct Dieu disposed"
1 had to follow the agent up int
1.-THE mountains of India 4 fell iii o
one of those burning climate fever
in the bungalow of an old nativ
priest, and the months few by, un
til it was more than year before
found myself on the deck OF tn
"Blue-eyed Mary" steaming int
New York Harbor!
And, all this time, Clara ha
never heard a word from mel
had written TO her, TO prepAr
her for what seemed almost like m
rising from the dead, but l had a
;. forwards found my letters in Ii
pocket of the neglectful native Sc
want who had undertaken TO deliV(
the mails to the Calcutta Office.
"Bnt il don't matter so mucl
, noWl' / thought; she will be u
4 more delighted, poor little girl"
And then cold chill seemed
"a creep through all nv veins, like n
~ yember's wind suddenly breathiI
- across bed of flowers!
Clara had heard nothing OF me II
% nearly fifteen months-what mig
y not have happened in that time!
: All that Tewksbury, and Jones, al
- Allen, and all the other prophet
% ravens of my acquaintance had sal
&c recurred to my mind, like the bu
IA den of an uneasy dream! Ihad be
AZ counting the days, the hours, [
= yery minutes until we should tou
"a port-but now that my feet ral
a once more upon the pavement
sc nv native city, actually dared n
:, 20 home.
l turned into a downtown resta
" rant, where l had been wont to 6
=; in the days of my bachelOrhood, a
- skunk into a dark corner-the "
~ light was just falling, aud L "
IS sheltered by the partition.
las Hush that was Tewksbur.
7'' voice harsh and jarring, as of old
"Just what might have been {
peeted," said Tewksbury. ''Prei
icy and Young widows don't go b,
= ging in this market"
'h- f'Folliott might have known /
= growled old Farnum. 'POor Fo
led ottl there was some good points
ee; bout him, tool Sad thing, tn
ed very sad thingl''
1t, awe must all die" said Tew
ng, bury, gravely.
N eyes, but a fellow would natuI
ing ly prefer dying in his bed 10 be
the carried off by an East Indian fe
hat and buried in the jungles!'
hat I shuddered. Had / then co
res home to my own funeral as it we
"Aud she's going to marry yOI
Birmingham, after all!'' added I
,lu- num.
TIT The paper dropped from my ha
-ith II could have told Eolliott
l. when heard what a confoun
Lcb- idiotic viii he had madep' 6
hen TeWksbury. $50 gold has falle
uld gain. Just my luck; 1 sold out
d it night"
of l STAYED to hear no more, but s
heir gered out into the darkness y
1rk. one idea whirling through my di
Dor brain-my Clara was mine no
the ger!