The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-05-16
IN and OUT OF LOVE.

HOW uo you know that q rose is red?
How do you know lobster salad from
sardines?
L knew she was a widow from the
very moment I took the corner seat in
the car, opposite to her little black bon
net with its i1uttering breath of Grape
veil, and the astrakan mnff that held
her two tiny black gloved hands.
How I envied that mutf.
Don't tell me of your venuses, your
Madonnas, and your Marys, Queen
of Scots-they couldn't have held a
candle to this delicious little widow.
1 never did believe in grand beautie S!
A woman has no business overawing
and impressing you against your will.
And she was one of your dimpled,
daisy-faced creatures with soft, brown
eyes, long-lashed and limpid, and a
red mouth which looked as if it was lust
made to be kissed.
And then there was a tangle of gold
en- spirals of hair hanging over her fore
head, and braids upon braids pinned
nnder her bonnet, until a hairdresser
would have gone frantic at the sight.
just as I was taking an inventory of
these things in that sort of an un-
observant way that 1 latter myself be-
longs to q man. of the world, she
dropped her muff, and, of course, it
rolled under the car seat.
WASN'T I down on my knees ut once
after it? 1 rather think so.
tifNborE Won cir ~ coiJ fho lo1;o;,,,
little widow.
Not ut ALL" I replied. "Can I do
anything more for you?"
mo thank you--unless you could tell
me what time we get into Glendale.
Glendale" / cried. "Why 1 am 60
ing to Glendale"
OF course we We're friends at once,
and the daisy-facea e~nchantress made
loom for me beside her, "lest" as she
said, "some horrid, disagrecable crea-
lure should crowd in and bore her to
DEATH, and l stepped right out of the
musty, ill-ventilated world of the rail
way carriage into an atmosphere of
Eden.
When q bachelor of forty falls in love
at first sight-oh, what n fall is there
III Sotlttl NiiiCi. ANo Iiull lllcSSllISS, l.
tell you.
Before we had been speeding through
the wintry landscape an hour, L had al
ready built up several blocks of chat
eaux d'Espasne, in my mind.
r saw my bachelor rooms frightened
With Ter p5resonce.
Ifancied myself walking to church
with her hand on my arm.
| heard her dulcet voice saying, my
lear Thomas, what would you like for
supper, tonight" / beheld myself a res
pect able member of society-the head
Of a family.
What would Bob Garter say now-I
meant then? Bob, who was always raj
lying me OH my state of hopeless old
bachelorhood, who supposed, forsooth,
because he happened to bea trife youn-
ger andbetter Rockingham myself, that
I had no chances whatever.
I'd show Bob!
"What did we talk about?"
The weather, of course, the prospect
all the available topics, ope after an
other; the more we talked, the deeper
grew my admiration.
She was so sensible and so original,
and so everything else that she ought
to he!
I discovered that she preferred a
town life to the seclusion of a country
residences did l.. Who would stag
nate when he could feel the worlds
pulses as they throbbed?
She loved the opera so did T.. She
thought this woman's suffrage move
,~,o.@ =, II ;l,.,,1,,,c ,y4t n l,,,+,1in
little lisp on the last syllable agre ed
with her.
She thought q woman's true sphere
was home; my feelings surged up too
strongly for ~utterance, and l merely
bowed my assent.
Here was a delicious unanimity Of
soul-a mute concord Of sympathy.
What would Bob Carter say when he
saw this beautiful little robin lured into
my cage. How 1 would lord it owe,
him. How I would invite him to chap
pen in at any time" How would-tig'
uratiyely, of course-hold up Mrs,
Thomas Smith wei his envying eyes
UTTERED an audible chuckle as l thought
of these things, which I had some diff.
Guilty in changing into q cough.
you've got a cold" said the widow,
sympathetically. "Do, please have one
of my troches; they are SO soothing to
the throat"
I took the troche, but I didn't swal.
low it. I would as soon have eaten q
priceless pearl. I put it in my left.
hand breast pocket, as near my heart rs
practicable.
Her first gift!
"a bachelor like me is used to such
things" I said, in an of-hand manner
"A bachelorl" echoed my travelling
companion. BLESS ME, then you are
not married?"
UNFORTUNATELY, no."
"It's never too late to mend,' hazard
ed the widow, %roguishly.
"That is my sole consolation" [ an,
swered, gallantly.
.There is nothing like married life,
sighed the widow, with a m%omentary
eclipse of the limpid, brown orbs, be-
meath the whitest of dropping lids
"But what's the use of my talking about
it to YOU? You can't understand"
"You can imagine, !" l replied modest
ly.
"You must find a wife as Don as pos
sible." said the widow, looking i~ntentl3
at the hem of her pocket handkerchief.
"You're only living half n life, now. All,
you cannot think how much happier
o would be with some gentle clingine
being at your side-some ~congenial soul
to mirror your own"
Instinctively l laid my hand Oh my
heart.
$40 not fancy that l shall lose an in
.+on4 IN t1ia sanrch said. II have
already pictured to myself the pleasures
of a newer existence"
"Have yon?" The brown eyes shot