The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-04-18
MY WIDOW.

. H Il
made q fool of himself bv m~atr;mony
Aewksoery, Q man who is notorious
tor new minding his own business.
told me she had love affair with Har-
~ birmingham before he went South.
Allen shook his head, and said Clara
Myers might be very pretty, but lie
Ike somebody maturer and settled. IN
D.. He married his h~ousekeeper the
next week, and she is mature enough
Tor Methusaleh himself.)
Everybody thought 1 was irving n
dangerous experiment; but I didn't pre-
tend to- suitevcrybodY sol simply suited
myself. l Went quietly to church with
Clara Myers, and married her Il glon-
Gus January morning whom the old St.
Paul $ was fringad with glitterin icicles,
and the brisk wiaa was freighted With
the PARTICLES Of flying snow, like II bat
talllon. OF diamonds onfa double
quick. II was a crisp wintar
morning, but the, keen air only made it
all the more e,hilaratinlg, and lust the
day and occasion to make ones spirit ex-
ubernnt and happy.
She was nineteen, and wasnine-and-
thirty. She was us beautiful as q rose
bud; was a rough old codger, sound
at heart, but, like q winter apple, I'M
. promising on Tire exterior.
IN short, We %life MS unlike u MAY
and November: snd the good nat,1red
world shook its head, and said, "No
good could come of such an u%neoual
notch" But she sa;d she loved me.
and | believed her. Nobody could look
INTO CaafaSs blue eyes and not believe
her, you sec.
Tho next day I made a will and be-
queathed all nay property uncondition-
ally to my wife.
Are You snra you are. doing a wise
thing, Mr.. Folliot:" said lIr, Mardvn,
the lawyer, puslsins his blue spectacles
up on his forehead, until he looked like
an old bald e0ome, with double pair
OF eyes. "Ion see she is yerv much
younger than yourself, and"
Please be so kind as to mind -FOUR
W ~business!" said L, ~brusunely.
Don't loo offended, Mardyn, but really
people seem to.suppose + am not able
TO attend TO my own affairs"
Just as you please" said Mardyn in
a rage. ~ am q tool in your hands,
"That's it exactly" said L. So L.
signed tho will and went home to Clara.
"Oh, Paul! you must not die"! said
Clara. with q scared look. when i told
her what I lad done. "Nobody ever
loved me as truly as Won have done, and
1 don't know what / should do if YOU
We're taken away"
There was d young Birmingham, if
all reports are true-"I mischievously
began; but the curl on Clara's lib
stopped ne.
"a mere butterfly" she sighed
haughtiiy, without either brains or prln-
ciple. PAUL. Paul! 1 have found a
shelter in your true, loving heart, and
mean to nestle there always"
And then she cried-.h;s foolhis soft
hearted little wife of mine.
Jones and Tewksbory might have
called this policy. Earnum would have
said it was acting. But it was very
pleasant, and l felt more than even like
a man who has found some precious
jewel and wears it like an amulet on
his breast.
So things went on until the firm Of
which was managing partner needed
to send some enc to Calcutta to see af-
ter q turbaned, scoundrel of an agent
who had absconded with more money
than we could well afford to lose.
Morrison was old and feeble; Hewitt's
wife lay very ill; so l was the one to 60.
1 kissed Clara goodbye as cheerfully
as | could, fully expecting to be back
in three months GA so.
l had to follow the agent up into the
mountains of India. l fell i'll of one of
those burning, climatic fevers in the
bungalow OF an oldnative priest, and the
months flew by until it was more than q
year before l found myself on the deck
Of the "Blue-eyed Mary" steaming into
New York harbor.
And all this time Clara had not heard
a word from me. Ihad written to her
to prepare her for what seemed almost
my rising from the dead; but L had
afterwards found my letters in the
pocket Of the neglectful native servant
who had undertaken to deliver the mail
to the Calcutta Office. "But it don't
matter SO much now,"I thought: "she
will be more delighted, poor little girlp
And then q cold chill seemed to creep
through all my veins, like November's
winds suddenly breathing across a bed
of flowers.
Clara had heard nothing of me for
nearly fifteen months. What might
have happened in that time? All that
Tewksbery and Jones and Allen and all
other prophetic ravens Of my acquaint-
ance had said, required to my mind like
the burden of an uneasy dream. | had
been counting the hours and the very
minutes, until we could touch port; but
now that my feet rang the pavement of
my native city, I actually did not go
home! I turned into downtown resi-
ta,lrant, where had wont to go in the
days Of my baclielorhood and slunkimto
that dark corner. The twilightwa Just
FILLING, and I was sheltered by the par
titicn. Hush! TINT was Tewksbery's
voice-harsh and Earring as OF old.
"Just&swhat might HAYS been expect
ed" said Tewksbery. pretty and
young widows don't go begging IN this
1uarket!W
"Folliot might have known iti'
growled old Farnum. Poor Folliot!
There are some good points about him,
too. Sad thing that, very sad thing?"
we must all die" said Tewksbery
gravely.
"Yes; but q fellow would naturally
prefer dying in his bed to being carried
off by an East India fever and buried
in the jungles."
I shuddered. Had I come home to
my own funeral as it were?
naAndsshe is going to marry young
Birmingham, after ALL" added Far
mum.