Smyrna times., 1876-04-26

ceived, he dropped his confidential tone
of your true printer the country over, to
give the results of his varied observations |
in other affairs, including politics, educa-
ton, religion, and finally matrimony.
sit is every mans duty" he declared
with some warmth, "to get married--and |
every woman's too" he quickly added.
Then he stopped, blushed little, and lift
ing the slug that concealed the next word
of the manuscript on the case before him,
resumed his work. They smiled one to
another in a knowing way, the editor and
the Office boy, and urged him to proceed
with his DISCOURSE but he only shook his
head and answered, a trifle sadly "Not
now, not now.'' The next day, and the
next, he was unusually reticent, and they
noticed that he frequently threw back as
much as half line of types from his
composing stick into the boxes as if he
had unconsciously set up the wrong words.
When he did not return the following
morning they knew he must have returned
| 10 HIS feSIlIlS anu MS faInDlnH.
If proof had been Immediately required
of the fact that Perky had taken another
holiday, it would only have been necessary
to call Aunt Naomi Scybold as witness,
for she had seen him saunter past her front
room window-the window where she always
put the cracked porcelain tea pot that held
her rose geranium-and he had stopped
awhile at the Widow Hainline's gate on his
way down the road toward the woods. A
halt at the widows gate had of late become
a regular feature of Perky's rambles. He
had been known to tarry there on some
occasions for fully an hour; and more than
once it had been observed that he did not
90 on over the bluff, as was his usual custom,
but turned and came back. To suppose
that these circumstances attracted no atten-
ton and provoked no comment would be
to fancy Seward Center a community OF
winged creatures with crowns and harps,
which it was not. The matter had gradually
assumed an interest in the public mind
second only to that of the pending strife
for the county seat between the Center and
the rival town of Konomo. Hence the re
ligious patience with which Aunt Naomi
Seybold watched Perky's movements from
behind her window curtains; hence also
the significance that had been attached t.
his casual remarks in the Clarion Office upor
the subject of matrimony. The Cente
really believed that Perky was in love Will
the widow.
The widow Hainline, it is proper to say
was not a widow at all. She was divorced
: wife, who had resumed her maiden name
: but still retained the title of Mrs" ol
!. account of he son Benny, glad-eyed littl
Z lad of eight years. Her husband had abar
: doned her when Benny was but two year
: old she had obtained divorce three year
= later, and the next summer she had com
! to Kansas hoping in time to get farm fc
the boy. This was substantially all the
knew about her, except that during he
:, nearly three years residence in the CentC
= she had been a well-behaved, hard-workin
/, woman. 1t seemed strange that with hi
=. bitter experience and her frigid and m
thodical ways, she should be thinking
a marriaas; much stranger than that Perk
who was so lonely and so peculiar, shoul
>. be contemplating such thing. To
= sure there was no absolute evidence tn
&c her thoughts were running in that dire
ton. But is there ever any but circur
l., stantial testimony in such cases? Perl
20 had been seen going to and coming fro
=. her house very often; she spoke of hi
- always when she spoke of him at all wi
- noticeable kindness her face flushed wi
evident pleasure whenever anybody prais
! him little for his known good qualities
made generous excuse for his faults. An
then, had she not bought dress with
gaudy pink stripe in it, and did she II
lately wear an unusual bow of bright r
bon at her throat, and sometimes big +
rose in her hair? Surely these signs, mea
;. ing so much with other people, could +
he mere accidents or idle freaks with h
so the verdict of the Center soon came
he unanimous that if the widow thoug
- sha did not love Perky, she was very mu
+o mistaken.
ms The Center having made up its mil
+ho there was no more doubt and no more {
he cussion. And yet, as matter OF fa
IL Perky had never once been known to
inn. into the widows house, nor had he and
his widow ever been seen to so much as c
,lf. together at the gate. When Perky stop
,nv there, it was the boy Benny who came
= to see him, and talked with him by
hour, and often accompanied him as
on. went on over the bluff and down into
&c river bottom, where the large trees W
~. and the birds and the squirrels, and
.ho oueer sound of the running water.
,oso Perky and Benny had come to be c
hv companions and friends. The one
o;d rarely seen without the other. The
, No had caught something of the mans beset
! 90 spirit of unrest, and the man had borro
ao,. bit Of the boys gentle cheeriness, So.
! n they blended very happily. They 81
aon much Of their time wandering about in