Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1878-01-18
Mr.. Lord and the Widow,

AS the glowing, tender sunbeams
shine down into the dark, craggy depths
of mountain Businesses, so does a sweet
idyl of purest love irradiate the inky
pages of the New York newspapers
the love of Mr.. Thomas Lord and the
Widow Hicks. Neither of these fond
creatures can be said to be in the first
blush of youth; in point of fact Mr..
Thomas Lord but recently entered upon
his eighty-fifth year, while the widow
whose first husband died in 1866. and
who, with Mrs. Wadman, has "mourned
through the many bleak and Decem-
berly nights of a seven years widow
hood and has mOurned four years
more on her own accounts quite in n
position to celebrate, by an international
exhibition or otherwise, the semi-cen-
tennial anniversary of independence as
free agent upon earth. And yet these
two roses, though their season of bud
ding long since has passed, still are
fragrant with the Intoxicating perfumes
of love. For them romance still has its
charms and mystery its attractions, and
with all the impetuous fervor of sixteen
and twenty-one they absolutely have
run away and got married! There was
no rope ladder in the case, it is true
even romantic love, when it arrives at
the average age of sixty-seven years,
hesitates at rope ladder-but, barring
this one non. essential feature, the elope-
ment was as regular as possible. 1t
was. too, an elopement en- prince, for
the high contracting parties ran away
in the widows own two-horse car
riage, driven by the widows own
| a,l tha friT T11nnial link
was forged in truly royal style by the
Cardinal Archbishop of New York; and
then the foolish, happy things drove to
the railway station, and at this very
moment are lost to the world in the
'wildering joys of their bridal tour.
IT'S a most gladstone interlude in the
dull, prosaic round of human AFFAIRS,
this elopement of Mr.. Lord and the
widow; and many tender heart VIII
be touched, MANY hard heart Will be
softened, at this spectacle OF a love SO
fresh and generous that it det1es alike
the limitations of age and the conven-
tions of society and sweeps onward in
delicious delirium of forgetfulness OF
everything but itself
And yet there are those so lost to all
ennobling sentiment, so incapable of
understanding and appreciatng the
finer emotions of the heart, as rudely to
cavil at this touchingly romantic mar
riage. 1t especially grieves us to state
that at the very head and front OF the
category of the cavilers are the six chill
dren of Mr.. Lord, by previous mar
riage. AS one single child the six have
uprisen in vehement denunciation OF
their fathers act, and the language that
they have used concerning that venera-
BILE man only is paralleled by the abuse
that they have showered upon the un-
fortunate widow. With malignant
cruelty they have affirmed that Mr..
Lord is of unsound mind, childish, IN
fact, and that the widow has swooped'
down upon him and carried him by as
sault, for no other reason than that IN
his own right he stands seized OF 3d.
900. .OOO The widow herself, they aver,
is shady character, and they point to
her unsuccessful endeavor to marry
Lord Henry Lennox and her similar
; attempt upon Minister Schenck as am
pie evidence of her buccaneering habit
on the matrimonial high seas. They
dilate upon her variegated life in New
York, Paris, London and Rome, and
they bring against her the purely irrel-
eyant charge that during her residence
in England she was famed for her pluck
and skill in riding to hounds-as If rid
ing to hounds and riding to hearts were
part and parcel of one general scheme
of unwomanly wickedness. Nor do
these unfilial children of the happy
groom confine themselves to words; in
, deeds they are no less vigorous. AL
ready the lawyers have been called in,
! and the heartrending announcement Is
, made that steps will be taken to pro-
cure a decree of court annulling the
,, marriage on the ground of imbecility,
1 What an ending is this to the joyous
r dream of two fond hearts! Because
Mr.. Thomas Lord "refused to fight
/ against so sweet a passion" because he
' would not "steel his heart to such a
r world of charms albeit charms some
what mellow with age-his own chill
! dren rise up and, so far from calling
: him blessed, pronounce him-imbeeile
r And the widow, the loving, confldlng
G widow, what is to become of her when
q the decree of court has been procured
; and she is left floating hopelesswrech
|, upon the wilderness of waters OF 3
, double widowhoodp In truth, tbs 1
! most sad spectacle, and one fit TO draw
/, tears of pity from a statue OF stone.
i o Love what is there in this world OF ours
l Which makes Il fatal to be lOvedt All, why
e With cypress branches hast thou wreathet
d thy Bowers,
IS And made thy best interpreter a sigh.
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