The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1881-03-01
THE WIDOW cRA1o's COW

Tom" said my uncle. signing his
name to the deed conveying that
pretty piece Of property. the Craie
fields, to me-a bit Of land he had
come into By sharp practice. o. the
lawyers say. Tom. they say Craig I
widow still lives On the ground a.
Joining in that yellow bard house
with q yard full Of bachelors button,
and gimcracks, aud that neither the
devil nor Jim Craig could live with
her. Jim gave up trying tvs" year.
ago, though they do do cay the Other
gentleman and che are s,ill inssiine
tor supremacy. How do you expect
to get on with the widow. You have
the gift Of palsver. true. but depend
on it she'll be too cussed sdroit for YOU
Beside. its internally nasty for a 10
man to have to sit down On q small
turnip patch to see another fellow
rolling 10 the clover lands and mead
ows which ought to he hers. LII
enough to turn all her milk Of human
kindness iuto NORWOOD water Of
sour cheese. For nv part l dom
blame her il she did slam the door il
nv face when I called there last fall
In me she sees . vile beast who ha,
swallowed up her woodland. and
wheat fields. You can't expect Z
woman to be sensible and logical
enough to zee that the fault wai
Crsise, not mine. 1t was his Owl
reprobate love for whisky and taverns
which like similar frenzy upon RiE
Van Winkle-left his wife penni!ess
Tom, don't drink. At least one
bowl Of punch. Al night bv your owl
ireside is sufficient for even country
gentlemsn'f needs"
With this parting advice. and &
last pull at the willow flask on the top
shelt of the cupboard. nv uncle went
away in company with MIR. Nipseu, hi
solicitor. and put my fee, ON the
table and lit very superior Mexican
cigar.
/ was now the owner Of = handsome
piece of property. vas now . bait
for elderly ladies who had tender
young daughters to marry "a. In
short. life began to open up very broad
IL indeed TO me a. | eat smoking.
lfancied it would be doing the clev.
er thing to indite . respectful and CON-
letter to Jim Craies devoted
widow. a. . preparatory courier be.
fore me.
1t is with q singular feeling OF CON-
placence that q good-Iooking fellow Of
thirty sits down to write to q lady.
Old. Young. handsome or hi,lenus. il
Is all the same. She is bound To h.
impressed.
Mrs. Craig. Of Craig Falls:
MY DEAR MADAx-Circumstan.
,es over which / have had no con,
troll have invested mo with the title to
The Cedars, belonging recently to your
ate husband, James Craig. 1t i. my
intention to superiutend repairs on the
estate at Oace, aud to look after the
Craig lands adjoining. Also If you
will permit me. / shall DO myself the
pleasure to call on you while at Ash.
burton. and now beg leave to subscribe
myself, your obedient servant.
THos. CARAwAY."
Which grandiloquent epistls dis
patched with no mean opinion of nv
powers AZ q letter writer. determining
to follow it down into the country,
sith q bag full of collars. some stun
ming red neckties and a change Of
linen.
There 10 nothing like making q good
at the start. 1t was not
that my good old uncle had
,een cut off short.
There Wa. nothing in uncle Cara.
vsys figure to recommend it but lite
'onderosity. He vas . raw.boned,
leavy jawed old man. with flabby
Yields, and over what nv poor Aunt
Judith had once considered the finest
'lue eyes in the world.
He revsnged himself on all people
'ecause bic father had not given him
ny profession BY turning out specu-
ator and buying OF bed titles and
Such conduct made poor Uncle
Thomas very generally feared AMI
'sted, but eocially be was one of the
est fellows in the world, and treated
ne ~ his nameeake far better am
old than ] deserved. He was acts
lily afraid to settle on the Craig
elds himself, or to 20 down there to
70 about the fences and the culverts.
lie decided the new property to me
nd washed his hands of the widow.
went down with the determine.
ion to settle the widow. but in q gen.
|emanly way. If there was TO be
ny unpleasantness j. was by far the
eat to get it over and done with Just
5 soon as possible. I had been told
ften that it always rained or showed |
T blew hard at Ashburton at this
me Of the year.
| landed in q fine. cold dtizzle, and |
a. pumped down at the station and |
here left on the Muddy portico, !
lily Q mile from the next cottage ut |
he CEDAR. which had been left bv the |
raigis furnished completely. |
Well it should never be said that |
AIRED Q little honest country rain and
nd. Turning nv trousers up at the
,kles set off bravely toward the
npty house Of which ! was nov the
aster, preferrine its seclusion to the
cket and had tabacco emoke At the
,blic house. A. bit farther down the
/ met queer looking spec.
zen iu grey jeans pantslcon.. and .
zzy white hat. Il
Jerusalem, Peter! So you're
I'M 70 live in fXoahv Er~,u's ho,,.>