The Indianapolis leader. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1879-1890, 1881-04-02
WIDOWS AND wlDOwERs.
Their Little Peculiarftfes.

Eugene J. Hall 10 Chicsgo Tribune
The average widow is altogether an at
tractive institution; her weeds fit her so be-
comingly. and there is something so touch
ing IN the sad, melancholy look she wears
and the tender Way in which she alludes to
"My dear viii, when he was alive" that it
at once enlists an impressitIe mans sympa-
thies, and when pretty widow makes q fel-
low feel seriously sorry for her he is at least
half in love with her ALREADY.
| Widowsl They understand a man better
than ne knows himself. They read his char
acter by intuition, and make him willingly
perform just what he solemnly resolves not
to do. They pet him. they flatter his van
ity; they coax him; they scare him; they
make him propose; they marry him. and
they actually govern him before he awakes
to clear and comprehensive sense of his
| situation.
| Widows never seem excessively bold,
nor do they appear particularly bashful;
they are never too v0u1g, and seldom
too old" 1t is sometimes truly remark
able chow young they grow" how guileless
and innocent they seem, how sweet and
| innocent they look, and how becomingly
their dresses tit them after brief season OF
mourning for their late lamented husbands
| A widow will marry halt dozen times
while maid is getting an offer. She knows
mans weak points, and she directs the
| arrows of her affection at them, even as
Paris sent his slender shaft flying into the
Vulnerable heel of the Styx-immersed Ach-
lilies. She storms his citadel He lowers
his colors and goes down, in the twinkle
! of an eye"-he makes an unconditional sur
render.
We know an old bachelor who is most
| estimable man; he has a kind heart, a COM
| Portable fortune, taste for art and disin-
clination to attend divine service and the
| rheumatism. He is further a great admirer
of Scott and Macauley; he will read Locke
| and Lecky by lamplight far into the mid
night hours, and he can discourse quite
| charmingly upon the beauties of Bacon, the
grandeur of Guizot, the magnifcence of
Milton, and the sublimity of Shakespeare;
but we have seen dark-eyed, bewitching,
and bewildering widow who would lead
him Hmping off to Church, looking as meek
as Moses, and make him talk Tennyscn and
Tom Moore all the way there. While a
virgin could not have approached within
speaking distance of him with all her pro-
verbal philosophy.
We do not propose to speak thoughtlessly
Civ 'ASOhcioOidsCls Vi tuOcc WDOSt llNts are
hopelessly saddened by their bereavement.
The grief OF a widow is too sacred to be
made the subject of rude or unmaniy public
comment We are at heart a true friend to
the widows; we would willingly make them
all smile if we could We admire their
tact, their good judgment, and occasional
common sense; We like to take their little
and sometimes their large children upon our
knees and talk as cheerfully and encour-
agingly as we can to them, because we feel
that they are fatherless.
We have great deal more sympathy for
widows than we have for widowers. Per-
haps it is the common failing of our sex, but
so far rs our experience goes we have found
great deal of fraud and dissimulation in
the grief of the average widower. A multi
tude of them worry the lives of their patient
little wives away in order that they may
subsequently
Satisfy that inward hunger
That they feel for some younger.
They wear weeds and sanctimonious counte-
nances as an outward expression of the
agony that they are supposed to feel within.
They are easily distinguished from other
men by reason of their subdued and solemn
air, and their tender consideration for the
feelings CT sweet young girls of sixteen, or
thereabouts
They are usually quite anxious to marry
again. Sometimes they seem to be in great
hurry about it; and singular to relate, they
are seldom unsuccessful in their various
matrimonial endeavors. They know chow
to handle woman 1--WE speak fguratively);
they understand her various whims and
caprices; they are posted in regard to the
exact location of the salient spot in her
breast and they besiege that point so effectu-