Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-03-01
MY WIDOW.
TRUE LOVE, FIEsT AND LAST.

TRUE IOf L, t11sST AND LAST.
Jones advised me not to marry
her-he said she was too young and
pretty.
FaTnum advised me to be an old
bachelOr-told me man past forty
simply made a fool of himself by
matrimony.
Tewksbery, man who is notorious
for never minding his own business,
told me she had 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
settled. IN. 3. He married his
housekeeper the next week, and she
is mature enough for Methusaleh
himself.)
Everybody thought I was trying
dangerous experiment; but didn't
pretend to suit every body, so simply
suited myself. ! went quietly to
church with Clara Myers and mar
ried her one glorious January morn
ing when the old st. Paul's was
fringed with glittering icicles, and the
brisk wind was freighted with thepar-
ticles of flying snow, like a battalion
OfdiamOnd on double quick. 1t was
a crisp winter morning, but the keen
air only made it the more eXhilerat-
ing, and just the day and occasion to
make ones spirit exhuberant and
happy.
She was nineteen and i was nine
and thirty. She was as beautiful as
a rosebud: / was a rough old codger,
sound at heart, but, like winter ap-
pie, unpromising on the exterior.
In short, we were as unlike as May
and November, and the good natur-
ed world shook its head, and said,
No good could come of such and un-
equal match But she said she
loved me, and 1 believed her No
body could look into Clara's blue
eyes and not believe her, you see.
The next day / made will and be-
queathed all my property uncondi-
tionally to my wife.
Are you sure you are doing wise
thing, Mr.. Folliot said Mr.. Mardyn,
the lawyer, pushing irIs blue specta-
cles upon his forehead, until he look
ed like an old bald gnome, with
double pair of eyes, you see she is
very much younger than yourself,
and
please be so kind as to mind your
own business!' said I, brusquely.
Don't be offended, Mardyn, but real
ly people seem to suppose | am not
able to attend to my own affairs
Just as you please said Mardyn
in a rage. | am tool in your
hands,
That's it exactly said /. So !
signed the will and went home to
Clara.
'Oh, Paul! you must not do it
said Clara, with sacred look, when
told her what l had done. Nobody
ever loved me as truly as you have
done, and don't know what should
do if you were taken away
There was young Birmingham,
if all reports are true I mischiev-
ously began but the curl on Clara's
lip stopped me.
"A mere butterfyr she sighed
haughtily,' without either brains
or principle. Paul! Paul!l have
found a shelter in your true, loving
heart, and l mean to nestle there al
ways
And then she cried-this foolish,
soft hearted little wife of mine.
Jones and Tewksbery might have
called this policy. Farnum would
have said it was acting. But it was
very pleasant, andI felt more than
ever like man that had found
precious jewel and wears it like ANU
let on his breast.
So things went on until the firm of
which ! was managing partner need
ed to send some one to Calcutta to
see after q turbaned scoundrel of an
agent who had absconded with more
money than we could well afford to
loose. Morrison was old and feeble;
Hewit's wife lay very i'll so | was
the one to go. / kissed Clara good
bye as cheerfully as 1 could, fully
expecting to be back in three months
or so.
] bad to follow the agentup into the
mountains of India. fell i'll of one
of those burning climatic fevers in
the bungalow of an old native priest,
and the months flew by until it was
more than a year before / found myself
on the deck of the 'Bluey-eyed Mary
steaming into New York harbor.
And all this time Clara had not
heard word from me. 1 had written
to her to prepare her for what seemed
almost my rising from the dead but
I had afterwards found my letters in
the pocket >of the neglectful native
servant who had undertaken to de-
liver the mail at the Calcutta office.
But it don't matter SO much now,' L
thought, she will be more delighted,
poor little girlv And then colo
chill seemed to creep thro' ali my
veins, like November's wind sudden
ly breathing across bed of flowers
Clara had heard nothing of me for
nearly fifteen months. What might
have happened in that time p
All that Tewksbury and Jones and
Allen and all other prophetic ravens
of my acquaintance had said, recur-
ed to my mind like the burden of an
uneasy dream. / had been counting
the hours and the very minutes, un-
til we could touch port; but now that
my feet rang the pavement of my
native city, I actually dared not go
homei turned into downtown res
taurant, where had been wont to go
in the DAYS of my bachelorhood, and
skunk into that dark corner. The
twilight was just falling, and l was
sheltered by the partition. Hush !!
that was Tewksbery's voice-harsh
and jarring as of old.
Just what might have be IN ex-
pected,' said Tewksf cry. Pretty and
young widows don't go b gglng In
this market!'
'FoilIiot might have known itu
growled old Farmnum. Poor Follioti !
I,1r1, .z-oro ccx,a,a uood r,n;nfl aboI1t