Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1873-08-02
MARRYING A WIDOW.

Thirty years old to-day.
Could it be possible that l, Mark
Marks, had jumped from teens SO
suddenly on the threshold of thirty
summers? l asked my mother.
She counted her fingers, naming
John, Joe Barney and Henry, Maria
and Susan, Betsy and Eliza, Jerusha
and Hannah, Ellen and Sallie, An
ME and Julia, Marion and Minnie,
and the rest of her small family;
finally she said l was thirty years
old. That settled the question.
L was unmarried. 1 had resisted
for ten years all matrimonial temp
tations but now, feeling the infirmi-
ties of age creeping on, concluded
1t would not be an unhealthy thing
for me to secure vile. How to
bring this determination to a sue
cessful conclusion demanded nv
consideration. pondered and con-
tinued to ponder.
Possessing a modest disposition,
theidea of going about in the socie-
ty ofmarriageable ladies on the hunt
ing expedition, didn't suit me. FL
nally l made up my mind to dodge
this difficulty by advertising.
Therefore the columns of the Times
one evening in June contained the
following:
MATRI8IONIAL.-The advertiser,
young man twenty-five years old,
prepossessing in appearance, intel
hgent, OF good habits, etc., desire to
correspond with some young lady
with view of forming a matrimo-
NAL alliance. Address, and send
carte de viste to Anxious Seat, Pod
wick, P. O."
Three days after the publication
of this | had received seven hun
dred and fifty replies. l was en-
cOuraged. Such generosity assured
me that wasn't the only person in
the vicinity of PodWick W no had a
haukering after conjugal felicity.
l opened the letters and devoted
two whole days to their perusal.
The one that suited me best was en-
closed in an enveloped surrounded
with black lines, an indication that
the writer had recently attended a
funeral, which, considering the ma
ture of the correspondence, was ev-
idence enough that she did not al
low grief to interfere with anything
that promised consolation. Her
note was os follows:
"AnxiOus Seat, noticed that you
desire to correspond with young
lady; but perhaps you may not wish
to henr from one, who though
young, am widow. / am twenty
three years of age, have an amiable
disposition l believe, and as for per-
sonal appearance, 1 leave you TO
judge from the enclosed carte de
viste. Should you desire TO know
me further, please address Julia,
East Haddam."
Her viste WAS beauty. She struck
my fancy exactly. But she was a
widow. Here was an objection;
yet l considered the matter thor
Oughly, and instead of allowing my
prejudices to run loose, to what /
conceived to be 3 sensible view of it.
1 reasoned thus:
''She's widow. Being thus her
application is an argument in sup
port of my resolution to marry.
| Why2 Because she has been married
and liked it so well she's willing TO
marry again. Matrimony, there
fore, must be the true state of hap
| piness.
IwrOte her letter, and in due
time received a reply. Other epis-
ties followed, and finally one pleas.
ant afternoon I found myself in
East Haddem, in the presence Of
Mrs. Wilsonburg.
! 1t is sufficient to say that the in.
terview was mutually agreeable
The lady was attired in mourning
which was SO becoming TO her com
plexiOn, that l never thought oi
Wilsonburg, deceased.
Her politeness was charming
Her conversational powers wert
superior.
''Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle and low an excel ent thing in 4 woman
Her figure was natural, not beIn!
made to order by supplies of whale
bone, and altogether, your humbl
servant was completely alive 10 he,