The Princeton union., 1881-02-17
THE WIDOW IN THE L.

1t had been Mrs. Butterkin's S doings'
letting the l.. Mr.. Butterkin had
objected to the proceeding, but mildly,
as was becoming in the good -humored
husband of a 'whimmy" wife, so prone
to tears that there seemed some foun-
datiOn for her pet apprehension that
her g blood was turning to water
GrleVously tormented by nerves, she
longed for womanly sympathy, and on
Mr.. Ebbeson's S decease, nothing would
Go but his widow should sell her farm
and occupy the Butterkin L, for had
not Ruth and she been dear friends
from girlhood ? After due delibera-
tion Mrs. Ebbeson came, having first
secured life lease of the building.
A busy little woman was Ruth Ebbe-
son, as she had to be, her Incorporate,
worthless husband having left her
barely enough to make both ends
meet. If she would lap them COM
fortably, it must be by her own exer-
tions with the needle. And as she
sat cheerily 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 neighborly
turn in the way of carpentry. The
two families were. almost as one. In.
deed, the letting of the L seemed a
provident arrangement for both par
ties. It was relief to Mrs. Ebbeson
to be rid of her farm it was we'll that
her mother should be within easy ac-
cess of physician.
Especially was it of advantage to
Mrs. Butterkin to enjoy cheerful COM
panionship, and whatever was of ad.
vantage to Mrs. Butterkin necessarily
affected Mr.. Butterkin.
Thus years glided on, bringing men,
tai VigOr to the nerve-diseased Mrs.
ButterhNn. She had never seemed in
better health than in that fatal spring
when she was prostrated> by pneu-
monia, death-stricken from the first,
"The Lord wills it, Ruth, and ]
don't feel to murmur," she whispered
with dying grace; but "husband'l II
miss me, I know. You'll keep an eye
on him, won't you, when I am gone.
and make him comfortable p
Mrs. Ebbeson sobbed a promise; but
after MI. Butterkin's bereavement she
found the covenant embarrassing, for in
this sublunary world of ours a widow
who ''keeps her eye' on widowel
challenges unpleasant comment. anC
little Mrs. Ebbeson deprecated the
speech of people. Consequently
though she conscientiously ministereC
to Mr.. Butterkin's comfort, it was il
unobtrusive ways not suspected BY
him, and hardly realized by the niece
who kept the house. The door
between the two sitting rooms ne
longer, as formerly, stood invitingly
ajar, but was hasped upon the widows
side. She never passed through il
now, save in the gentleman's absence
when she occasionally assisted the
inexperienced Esther in compoundine
his favorite dishes, or surreptitously
possessed herself of his fine mending,
With his wife's demise the old free ant
easy life had ended. They were two
distinct households, growing further
and further apart, as the weed upon thu
widower's hat Waxed rusty beneath
accumulated months of mourning. I
could scarcely have been otherwise
The closed door was but q symbol O.
the barrier which, in the very nature
of things, must exist between tn,
bereaved Mr.. Butterkin and tn,
similarly bereaved Mrs. Ebbeson
When a right hand glove has lost it
mate, and the left has met with a lik,
calamity, one naturally desires to Fl
the remaining two together, if hapl,
they may make pair, and the widow
shrunk sensitively at the thought o
the neighbors thus mentally matchin.
herself and Mr.. Butterkin. AS far a.
in her lay she tried to make it appar
ent to them that the twins were tw,
odd ones, which could by no possibil
ity be mated.
But not so the gentleman in question
That people should gossip never en-
tered his head. Ifin Roxana's life
time, to please her, he had done he
dear Ruth frequent neighborly fayor
all the more he would do them nov
that Roxana lay cold in death. Ant
as day after day went by, and he fel
more and more closely drawn by tn,