Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-05-31
From the Bazaar.
THE WIDOW IN THE L.

THE WIDOW IN THE L.
1t had been Mrs. Butterkin's doings,
letting the l.. Mr.. Butterkin had OBJ
jected to the proceeding, but mildly, as
was becoming in the good humored
husband Of whimmy' wife, so prone
to tears that there seemed some foun-
dalton for her pet apprehension that
her "blood was turning to water
Grievously tornented by nerves, she
longed for womanly sympathy, and on
Mr.. Ebbeson's decease, nothing would
do but his widow should sell her farm
and occupy the Butterkin L. for had
mot Ruth and she been dear friends
from girilhood? After due delibera-
ton Mrs Ebbeson came, having first
secured life lease of the building.
A busy lite woman was Ruth Ebbe-
son, as she had need to be, her intem-
perate, worthless husband having left
! her barely enough to make both ends
meet II she would lap them comfort
aoiy, it must be by her own exertions
with the needle. And as she sat cheer
lily stitching by her invalid mothers
couch, Mrs. Butterkin would often run
In with beans to pick over or apples to
pare, while on rainy days, obedient to
his wife's suggestions, Mr.. Butterkin
did many a neighborly turn i'll the
way of carpentry. The two families
were almost as one. Indeed, the let
ting of the L seemed q provident ar
rangement for all parties. 1t was re-
lief to Mrs. Ebbeson to be rid of her
farm; it was we'll that her mother
should be within easy access of a physi-
clan. Especially was it of advantage to
Mrs. Butterkin to enjoy cheerful COM
partnership, and whatever was of adj
vantage to Mrs. Butterkin necessarily
affected Mr. Butterkin.
Thus years glided on, bringing m entail
vigor to the nerve-diseased Mrs. Butter
kin She had never seemed in better
health than in that fatal spring when
she was Frustrated by pneumonia,
death stricken from the first.
THE Lord wills it, Ruth, and [ don't
feel to murmur," she whispered, with
dying grace; "but husband1l miss me.
/ know. You'll keep an eye on him,
won't you, dear; when [ am gone, and
make him conn ortable?'
Mrs. Ebbeson sobbed a promise: but
after M. Butterkin's bereavem ent she
found the covenant embarrassing, for
sin this sublunary world of ours widow
who keeps her eye" on a widower
challenges unpleasant comment, and
little Mrs. Ebbeson deprecated the
speech of people. Consequently,
though she conscientiously ministered
ito MIR. Butterkin's comfort, it was in
unobtrusive ways not suspected by him,
and hardly realized by the niece who
kept his house. The door between tie
two sitting-rooms no longer, as former
ay, stood lnvltlngly ajar, but was hasped
upon the widows side. She never
lpassed through it now, save In the
gentleman's absence, when she occasion
ally assisted the inexperienced Esther
In compromising his favorite dishes, or
surreptitiously possessed herself of his
fine mending. With his wife's demise
the old free and-easy life had ended.
They were two distinct households,
growing further and further apart, as
the weed upon the widower's hat waxed
rusty beneath accumulated months of
mourning. 1t could scarcely have been
otherwise. The closed door was but
symbol Of the barrier which, in the
very nature of things, must exist be-
tween the bereaved Mr. Butterkin and
the similarly bereaved Mrs. Ebbeson.
When a right-hand glove has lost its
mate, and left has met with a like
calamity, one naturally desires to fit
the remaining two together, if haply
they may make pair, and the widow
s1runk sensitiyely at the thought of the
neighbors thus mentally matching her
self and Mr.. Butter in. AS far as in
her lay she tried to make it apparent
to them that the twane were two odd
ones. which could by no possibility be
mated
But not so the gentleman IN ques-
ton. That people should gossip never
entered his head. If in Roxanna's
lifetime, to please her, he had done her
dear Ruth frequent neighborly favors,
all the more would he do them now
that Roxanna lay cold In death. And
as days went by, and he felt more and
more closely drawn to the cheerful, !
bright eyed widow, the simple man be-
Eeved this was solely for his departed |
wifes sake. She had been dead
year and a day, when Mrs. Ebbeson
whisked out upon the door step one
warm July morning to shake the table
cloth.
ooh, my stars" calculated she, look
ing not into the frmame nt, but straight