The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1878-11-12
Vol. l6.---No. 81
Mrs. Browns Husbands.

Mrs. Browns Husbands.
"Mr. Mills, the minister, was stran.
ger in the town, and when he was called
upon to visit Mrs, Brown who had just
lost her husband, and to console her,
he went around to see Deacon Wilt, SO
that he could post himself about the sit
uation.
81 understood You to say" said Mr..
Mills, "that Mrs. Brown has been married
three times 2-or was it fourf"
81 say" replied the deacon. shat che
was Mr.. Browns third wife, while he was
her fifth husband. But she was the
fourth wife of her second husband and
the second wife OF her lirst, SO that she
10y
LET me see," said the parson, "the
second wife OF her first and the--well,
then, three and Ave are eight, and four
a sss Re hang d t tEe hpg s Brown
has been married fourteen times, and Mr..
Brown was her
mo. you don't understand. Brown
was only her fifth husband"
aOh, her fifth But you said she
was the fourth wife of he second hus-
band, and she had three more, SO that
four and three are seven she must have
had seven husbands, and where arc the
other two q
"Why, don't YOU see2 Her second
husband was married three times before
he met her. She had been married once
-
"How could she be married only once
when We was her second husband Z"
"Oply once before she met him, and
when she married him she was his fourth
wife, SO that while he had had four wives,
she had only----
lis this Brown you are sp aking
OFF,
mo, no Brown was her fifth. He
had been married twice before"
i" Her second husband had y
:" mean Brown, OF course. Let me
explain. Mrs. Brown. say, married John,
Thomas, Jacob, William, and Henry.
Thomas married Lulu, Mary, Hannah and
Susan"
"Bcfore he married Mrs. Brown or II.
ter p
Before. Well, then, Brown married
Emma and Matilda, and Johl married
Agnes, Agnes died aud John married
Mrs. Brown. Taen John died and Lulu.
Mary, Hannah and Susan died, aud then
Thomas married MIS-. Brown. Then
Thomas died. Jaeab's wife died and ia
cob married Mrs. Brown, then Jacob died
and Williams wife died, and William an
nexed Mrs. Brown. When William died
Emma and Matilda died, and then Brown
married Mrs Brown. Everybody came
to Mrs. Brown, you sect
4 Asiii- ~ A. A. l.
srasI' shv r.us-- l'A - -irhA .-onnd A.
see her.
Mrs. Brown was at home And after
abiding to the weather and one or two
other topics, Mr.. Mills said:
II am deeply grieved. Mrs. Brown. to
hear Of your bereavement. ~ must ne
very, very terrible, even for a person who
Is so used to 1t"
$50 used to It'll What do you mean,
sir p
"Why, merely meant to suggest that
experience can not reconcile us to these
sfllctions. But there is this consolation,
dear madam time dulls the edge OF our
bitterest grief. You wept tor John as
il you could not be comfor.ed; but you
see you---"
"John! do not understand you,
SIR"
"You wept for John, but Thomas
came. When Thomas was taken You
thought yourself utterly inconsolable;
but there was Jacob--he broughtnew Joy.
When Jacob was waited to better land
your heart was nearly broken, but Will
liam healed the wounds; and when Will
liam drifted off into the unknown, Henry
assnaged your grief Perhaps there are
other Henrys, Williams, and Thomases
to whom this blessed duty will fall again.
Perhaps :.
You are talking very strangely, sir,
said Mrs Brown.
"Oh, no; | merely say now that John.
and Thomas, and Jacob, and William, and
Hery have been called away to join Susan,
and Hannah, and Agnes, and Matilda, and
Matilda, and Emma, and Lulu, and Mary,
aud the rest, there is some hope that
that-Why, Mrs. Brown, what on earth
4; -~---.s .s.~"o J~us WucuGs