Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-07-06
DOROTHY DOLEFUL,

DOROTHY DOLEFUL
1t sometimes seems o0d-and yet il
isn't-that some people in this world
are so extravagantly fond of the doleful
feast upon all things which harrow uI
the soul and dlight in adding to the
darkness of life already dark enough
A morbidly bilious temperament is the
cause, and they who have disposition
so affected naturally find relief compar-
ing their ills with those of others.
Widow Dorothy Doleful had lost three
husbands and nine sons upon the re.
morseless sea. She married in a sea-far-
ing community and the nautical inclina-
tions of her husbands and children had
decked her head twelve times with a
black bonnet and the weeds of mourn
ing.
But the Widow Doleful, though she
had humane heart, had tough one, in
some respects. Her grief was like that
of many other widows. With charm
ing system it duly observed the outward
ceremonies prescribed by the world, but
did not so penetrate her soul as to make
her heart break, or prevent her from
looking about for another husband.
She was born with a passionate fond
ness for the gloomy side of life, and the
atmosphere of sorrow wholesome to
her, she thrived under her affliction like
an ivy vine in the shade. and related dis
NAL tales with deep feeling Of salts
faction. After her dozenth bereave-
ment she one day betook herself to a lit
tie polite thinking, and said the widow
to herself-as she smoothed the wrinkles
of her black silk gown
"This here won't do at all! 1t won't
do for me to marry any more sailors |!
They are all the time dying at sea, and
their sons keep naturally doing the same
likewise-just as the young ducks fol-
low the old ones into the water just as
soon as they break shell. What's bred
in the bone will never come out of the
flesh. My next husband shall get his
living on land, and if have my choice
he shall hate water like dog that has
the hydrophoby. Particularly as am
getting old now and can't afford to lose
more'n one more dear husband; hus-
bands amt so plenty to get arter we're
forty-fivs."
So the widow eheered up on the
strength of her new resolution, and hav-
ing disposed of her effects in her native
town on the seaboard, moved herself,
"all sole alone" to another town in an
inland State. ae
1t was fortunate for the widow, that
she moved where she did, as the town
boasted of two railroads and a canal,
and river and lake were not many
miles of, so that the neigborhoOd was
likely to have plenty of fresh bad news
of railroad accidents, steamboat disasters
of the horrors brought by the newspa-
pers from all parts of the world and
parts adjacent.
Widow Dorothy Doleful had not long
settled herself down in the town of
Woeberry before she made the acquain-
tance of nearly every widow in the
place.
Widowhood has great fund of inter-
esting knowledge, including that of wo-
mans heart, that might be furnished to
the world could the interviews of weed
sick widows be all faithfully related.
Practical experience is great thing in
all trades, and sorrow makes folks wise.
Our Widow Doleful, having had the
advantage of all the other widows in
having lost so many husbands, became
q center of attraction to them, and con-
there was hardly anything, in
the female way, but black that ever Wis
tied her house.
Widows, widows, widows, kept pour
ing and pouring in, and had it not been
that their cheerful faces denied their
sad habiliments the very walls would
have been moved to sympathy, echoed
with sighs and streamed with tears.
Though this pen is well acquainted
with all those widows said, in their va
rious interviews with the Widow Doro-
thy Doleful, it would refuse the ink were
an attempt made to WELD 1t in the be-
trayal of confidence. 1t never does such |
GUlnRS. Ii Is, uOW0bcI, WlilluSB AOi q
to give what the widow
said to some of her sister widows on one
occasion, IN order to convey the idea of
her style of taste, and thought, and talk.
On the one occasion referred to she
had received two letters, black sealed.
from home, and was just preparing to
break them open, and have rich treat,
when three or four mourners came trot-
ting in.
After the conventional salutes, and the
visitors had each gladly accepted the in
ito take their bonnets of, Mrs.
Doleful opened her soul as follows:
"Such dretful accident as I've just
read in the paperl A steamboats, bust
ed on the lake, and about sixty people
blown sky highl o dearl Them steam
boats is always busting. l shouldn't
wonder if we all had some relations or
friends or something aboard, and per-
haps they're blown up, tool 1t would
be some satisfaction to know it, Just to
set our minds to rest, but the names
haven't come yet-poor soulsl"
"The papers will tell tomorrow" said
"Some of 'sm, l suppose" continued
the widow. "But, then, some OF 'em are