Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1873-09-13
cURIesIRaEs OF sNEDLOCK.

ra= -
In 1868, the owner of a thrifty little
farm in the lluxuriants region OF Ken
lucky, known as the blue grass country,
was a cemelyi widow whose bereayed
condition had tempted more than one
matrimonial- pretender to offer futile
suit for the succession. 1t was believed,
indeed, by the neighbors that she had
determined to accept no second zliege-
lord but one day, la the autumn of the
year mentioned, "a dusty wayfarer Oh the
public highway leading through the
farm thought he detected a less selfish
disposition in the hospitable lady of the
grange. A stranger in the plaoe, paas7
ing at her doorway to ask for a drink OF
Water, this astute individual was asked
to enter and take. temporary rest; and
so ingratiated himself by his deferentiai
manner that the kind-hearted widow
did not hesitate to give an affirmative
answer to his request for permission to
call again. He was Il irespectabl y e,iu-
Gated Irishman Of the better class, trav-
elling in quest of some farm SUPER
intendeney, and resolved at once TO. re-
main in the neghborhoodY for a while.
His second call was followed by a third,
and that by another In short, before
the nei ighbors had fairly exhausted their
stock of wonder at the strange acqtlaint-
ance they were. informed that the wid-
ow and the late wayfarer were engaged
| to be married. When the wedding took
place 1t was 10 furtlieri scandal TO the
gossips that. as the bride was a Baptist
and, the, bridegroom d Roman Catholic,
and each firm in their respective faiths,
there were two ceremonies one in a
| Protestant and one in a Catholic church.
| unpopular as was the match in any
/ light, this doubling of the bond was re-
| garded rs, OminiOuS of not more than
| half the usual certainties of matrimoni-
al union and public, sentiment predicted
that no good would come of it, Sure
enough, after awhile, the Irish husband
suddenly disappeared from kentucky.
| wrote briefly to his wife from this city
| that he had been abruptly summoned ste
Europe on business requiring imneai-
ate attention, and set sail on the day up
on which his, strange ,letter was dated,
1.-The next news, for the deserted lady was
"a report Of the loss of his vessel at sea
with all on board; and as five OF six
lyears passed away without contrary in
telligence from him or anybody else, the
| widow discarded her robes of fffournihe
and gave her still desirable hand to .
third husband. Bat, as the reader has
probably suspected, the Celtic rover was
mot dead. Two or three years after The
remarrirge of the lady of the grange the
latter learned to her .disnnay, that he
Survived the perils of the sea somewhere
. abroad, would not disturb her by re-
turning to this country, and counsel1ed
/ her to make her. present social status
good by obtaining a divorce from him
AT once Withdrawing from wedlock, the
mortified woman did procure the di-
vorce; after which she and her husband
were remarked & Thus twice welded
to two successive lords the lady should
| have been matrimonially settled IN life
i at last It seemed, however, that the
story was not yet ended, In 1851 she
was once more a widow, and the eccer.
trio gentleman in. IRELAND, hearing of it.
crossed the sea once more upon another
VISIT to Kentucky. Once more he ,ap-
4 peared at the door of the farmhouse as 1
dusty, thirsty ,wavfarer,l was Recognized
by the same hospitable hostess, and, in
very penitent fashion, renewed his old
suit. Uuspeakable was the fresh scan.
dal of the neighbors' when they heard
/ that the pair were. to be married for the
third time, but. for all that, the we'd
/ ding took place: though only in the
Protestant form on this occasion, as the
bridegroom had renonnced his Catholi
| cism; and the union has been exempla
/ ay in its harmony and happiness evci
since. The story is given to the Clarl1s
vile (Mo.) Sentinel by a former elder
| of the Baptist congregation in whici
| the thrice-married husband and wifi
| are now jealous COMMITMENTS, and hi
I thinks its illustration of the pluralitie!
| of matrimony possible within the stat
| ute and canon laws is more curious, i
1 not more romantic, than the average in
| yefltion of the novelist. 7Ai +"