The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-08-08

From the first she had taken the man.
aging of things into her own hands,
and had tossed him-at least so it
seemed to his eventually added brain
from pillar to post,'' till he died from
sheer inability to keep up with her Yam
kee quickstep. 1t did not make much
difference with her after six weeks or so.
Indeed. she seemed to feel it relief that
she had not " thet weak critter to yank
round n time to git the farm work
done same time other folks done
their'n." But she still "droven - from
force of habit, and it was we'll that she
did, for there was good deal of land
to look after; and she not only kept it
going, but perceptibly improved it in
two years time. Then people began to
forget their pity for her depressed look
ing husband, and " Widder Pins fac'l-
ty," and "Widder Pins gret medder,"
were the frequent topics OF converse
ton for miles around.
Let us not omit one item Widder
Pin and all her neighbors were
fish-eating community. They lived
near a river which supplied them with
shad, the year round In the fishing
season, scores of barrels of salted shad
were stored in the cellars of the villag-
ers, and came again into daylight, moth
ing but bones. 1t was rumored that the
curious accent of the people was caused
by talking while eating fish. 1t was
customary to put the piece of fish in at
the right side of the mouth, while from
the left side issued a stream of well
cleaned bones. Certain it is, that un-
less one closes the right corner of the
mouth when talking, he can not sue
cessfully initiate their peculiar pronun-
citation.
The fame of Widder Plin' spread far
and wide, and suitors, with speculative
glances toward the "gret medder," at
tempted an awkward wooing. She treat
ed them to fried shad, which specula-
tors from hill towns unsuccessfully tried
to dispose of as rapidly as their hostess,
and to rhubarb pies, which one discom-
flied wooer declared tasted "more like
slabs of slippery el-lum and cinnamon
bark than it did like rewbub.' After
while it came to be saying that Wild
der Plin' tested her wooers with fried
shad, and played with them according
to the time they spent a-gormin'.' If
they choked with the bones, they were
summarily dismissed, the widow saying
to her bosom friend, the dressmaker,
that size ''didn't want no ct shad throw
ed up over her floor"
The country store for men, and the
village dressmaker's for women, have
equal attractions. At the store the men
smoke and drool political opinions and
at the dressmaker's, the women ascer-
tain who is having new dresses, and
why they have them, and give their
has any business to get a brand new sal
packy" when she has two calicoes year
beside the "bumbazeen " her mother
in-law left.
Widder Plin' and the village dress
maker were bosom cronies. Whatever
happened in town was known there, till
finally the men folks began to drop in
now and then for talk, especially those
of the villagers who had an eye for the,
widow, who frequently ran in for chat.
"Mornin', Lois" said the widow one
day, as she walked unceremoniously in
to the dressmaker's sitting-room
1OIulu WllucI. DCt OOWA
''Thought I'd run in a few minutes.
Jes' give me a thread an needle an I'll
baste while I talk. That's right. Well!
Sent Hosy Noble kittin' las night"
Miss Lois laughed. "You be the
beatinest! Why didn't you take up
with himP He's goods any on 'em."
$50 he is But didn't want ter hev
ter be gee-hawin' on him f'rever, a
gittin' on him ter do any thing. l kim
do well enough alone. | kin hoe my
row with any man."
$50 I've heered We say. But you'll
git took up one o. these days, mos like
~"
"He'll git his match, guess. But
I've ben thinkin' o. suthin'. The next
stranger that comes I'm goin' ter tell
him he's mistook the name, an sen him
over here. You're thrifty huff to suit
any man, an got a snug little piece o.
prop'ty."
81 don't want 'em, widder. Keep
'em ter yerself. / seen man years ago
that stick by yet, though he's dead an
gone. I don't want any pokin' round
ma house, old's be meow Here comes
Gallup Button. He was in Yesterday
lookin' for ye.''
"Sneakin' critter! He knows he
descent set foot onter my premises, !" she
muttered. as he entered. He was the
first admirer to whom she had given the
mitten, after her husbands death.
Heow be ye, widder? Heow dye
dew, Miss Frisbee?'' remarked Caleb,
numbering into the room, without the
ceremony of knocking. "Don't git up.
kin wait on myself. Still workin' on
Miss Gaylord's gownd, see. Be yew a
'prenticing tew Miss Frisbee, widder?