Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1885-05-02
SELECT STORY.
THE WIDOW PUZZLE.
BY SHIRLEY BROWNE.

"he get married." said Mr.. Riggs.
go, pshaw! It's round ten year too
late for me to think of that sort of
thing"
offs never to late for good thing"
said DR.. Dow sagely. "And the
Widow Puzzle would be Il prize for
any man."
I'm afeared of widows" said Riggs,
"Either they are pious and apt to be
closesin the housekeeping Or else they
are always comparing you to their
dear first husbands"
"Some widows I::grant you," said
the doctor chuckling. "But not the
Widow Puzzle! She's u trump
card !"
"Hain'ta a doubt of it," said Mr..
Riggs; 'hainta a doubt of it! But Pm
rather too old to be trying expert
ments, ye see."
In the meantime the Widow Puz-
zle-whose real name, although much
corrupted by the freaks of popular
pronunciation, was Mary Marcella
Purcell, was being ':joked'' over u
cup of tea by Mrs. Post, the minister's
wife, on the subject of Mr.. Riggs,
himself.
"He would suit you exactly, dear, %
said Mrs. Post, gently dipping her
spoon into the glass dish of strawber-
ry preserves which her hostess had
just handed her.
ooh, getout"' said the Widow Puz-
zle.
"I'll allow he is queer" added Mrs.
Post; ''but my husband says he is as
good as gold"
Clap SAID Mrs. Puzzle !; "as if it
mattersd to me u"
| "But you ought to marry again,
Mary gently urged Mrs. Post.
with this great farm on your hands
and all that woodland OH Cherry
Mou ntain-"
"Taat's all nonsense" said the
Widow Puzzle. But she colored up
q little--as Mrs. Post was not slow to
observe.
81 don't believe that she dislikes
the idea after ALL" said Mrs. Post to
her husband.
at wouldn't be such a bad notion y
observed the clergyman; "but Riggs
never would have the courage to pro-
pose. He Is as shy as a hare
81 have no patience with your shy
people," said Mrs. Post, with energy.
"Perhaps they can't help it, my
DEAR" said the parson.
"He'll need wife more than ever.
/ when he gets that hotel built on the
! top of Cherry Mountain," said the
| lady.
| "Suppose We let him decide that
point for himself" mildly suggest,
ed her husband.
| The summit Hotel" was very
nearly completed. Mr.. Riggs had
worked diligently on it all the sum-
mer and autumn-and now, as the
drearv winter storms set in, there was
every prospect that they would be
able to open it early IN the ensuing
season. 1t was rather nice idea
this of building handsome struct'
ure on the slightly" crest of the fine
old mountain. City people enjoyed
air and prospect. They would like
to wander on the cliffs and drink
from the ice-cold springs, when the
thermometer at the city drug stores
stood somewhere in the vlcinage of =
hundred and fifty degrees. But the
head painter, and the master mason
were not so actively interested just
now. Neither was the man who had
the electric apparatus in charge, and
who did not relish climbing the
mountain just to see where he was
| expected to go to work when the
| next spring came.
"Six months hence would have
done just as WE'LL" said he.
81 generally like to plan little
beforehand what Pm going to do, ,
said Mr.. Riggs, jovially.
Hadn't you better drive a little
faster!" suggested the boss carpen-
ter. '1tll be dark before we know
it,"
"The roads are pretty slippery -
said Mr.. Riggs. "And the cold. amt
sharp. Oh, we're maxim lretty
good speed, Mr.. Hammer"
The head painter sighed deeply at
serves us right" said he, "for con sent
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