Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-03-09
THE MYSTERIOUS WIDOW.

Brunswick was the populous place it Is now,
there stood on the sea coast, several miles
from where the city of st. John now stands
little struggling sort of village, composed
principally Of fishermen's cottages. Little
better than huts they were, and rough, I'M
polished, but honest and hard working set
were their occupants In winter, when the
snow was piled high and the freezing winds
blew piercingly cold, the inhabitants of NJ
met In some one Of the cottages where. with
dance and song, they beguiled the evening
hours, as happy as though they knew nothing
of the bustling, busy world shut out by their
native hills And in summer the pleasant
moonlight evenings were spent in sailing over
the bright waters of the bay or in wandering
In pairs through the dim wholesome sturdy,
sun Drowned youth whispering in the ear of his
insmorita the ''old, old story" Everything
flowed on in that little seacoast village for
years ana years in the same calm, monoto-
nous way; almost forgotten by the iuhab-
itants was the fact that there existed any
other world but the little one in which they
lived. Sometimes, 1t Is true, rumors would
reach them Of the bold manner in which the
revenue was cheated by the smugglers of
Eastport; but the honest fishermen, secure in
their rockbound retreat cared little for this.
At length, however, the Inhabitants were
aroused from their stagnation by quite a lit
tie romance, OF which the following Is a brief
summary:
Standing on n bleak, desolate sort of emf
nence that projected somewhat from the
mainland was littlo ruined stone cottage,
10 had formerly been built by ono OF the fish
ermen, who, finding he could not reside in
such a cold, cherries spot had deserted it,
and the hut had long been without an in
mato. II was ever here the wind blew cold
est in winter, and here the suns RAYS fell
hottest in summer. The summit of the
dreary hill was crowned with stunted spruce,
dwarfed and blackened by the intense frosts
Of many winters. Over tho rocks below
broke, with dull sullen roar, the waves Of
the Bay of Fundy; and oftentimes, in the
spring, the tides would rise so high and so
rapidly as 10 entirely surround it, cutting it
off like an island from the mainland The
inhabitants had very appropriately named it
Bleak Point.
Such was the state of things when, one raw
spring morning, tho news went flyine
through the village that BLEAK Point
shanty" had got an occupant. A low,
black, rakish looking schooner had come I'D
the bay the night before; a boat had put off
from her, leaving woman on Bleak Point
u. u.
before daylight. was off and away.
or course, everybody was all aglow to dis
cover who she was and what a woman hardy
and courageous enough to live in so lonely a
place could look like. This curiosity was
soon satisfied; fer after the first few days the
new conner did not seem disposed to conceal
herself. Let them rise as early in the morn
ing as they pleased they would find her I'D
before thein strolling about among the rocks.
This wonder was still further augmented at
finding her young and eminently handsome,
with healthy brown face, and the bright
est vivacious black eyes in the world. The
young men Of the village could speak Of
nothing but her beauty; and the hours they
should have spent in catching fish were
wasted in devising schemes to catch her.
The ladies of the village, were, however, abb
solutely scandalized by the utter indifference
which she manifested in regard TO dress-and
indeed her garments generally looked as
though sho had jumped into them. She dis
pensed altogether with hat and bonnet and
wore in its place a silk handkerchief, knotted
under her chin after the fashion Of the French
women. Still, even the jealous village bellies
were obliged TO own that nothing could have
set of better the dark, bright style Of her
beauty than the rich, brilliant hues OF her
head dress
For q time tho villagers held aloof from
the new conner; but, finding their reserve
was met with careless indifference on her
part, they soon began to change their tactics.
A few of the village maids and matrons
called at Bleak Point shanty, and, though
shocked beyond measure at the universal dis
order reigning without and within, they left
on the whole, rather favorably impressed by
ffo VInfx
her bright black eyes as she begged them to
excuse the state in which they found things,
on the plea that she wasn't used TO house
keeping" AL their ondeavors to discover
her name and business proved, however, to
be vain, but from several accidental remarks
dropped by her they concluded she was
widow AS it WIS impossible for her to be
spoken OF without name they resolved TO
give her one themselves-and admiring her
bright, black eyes and jetted locks they con-
Guided to give her that Of Black Accord
ingly, the name by which the handsome
stranger was known in the village was the
Widow Black"-a name which, after a
laugh at first, she professed her Willingness to
be known by.
And weeks passed away, and the Widow
Black remained tho sole dweller on Bleak
Point. During this time she became the
reigning belle and prime favorite Of the
good people OF NJ, in spite of the mystery
In which she was enveloped She accepted
every invitation to parties, and picnics, and
quilting troics, and candy sprees," always
without exception il the tumbled dress and
everlasting silk handkerchief Such songs as
she could sing in such voice, such a splendid
dancer as she was, such stories as she could tell,
now keeping the audience convulsed with
laughter, and now bringing tears into eyes
al unused to the melting mood No party
Of pleasure was complete without the Widow
Black; no wonder, then, every unmarried
man in the village had his heart pierced by
the black eyes of the lively widow, and every
woman under 40 was wild with jealousy and
envy.
But the handsome widow moved ON her
way as If totally unconscious and Indifferent
as to what people thought Of her. In fact,
different from all other widows that ever
were heard Of, she showed at all times de-
cided preference for the society Of the young
Lsiies and rather laughed at all the tender
devotion Of her rustic swains
One night old Miles Judson, being out un-
usually late casting his nets, was surprised to
zee the same low, black, suspicious looking
schooner that had left among them the
Widow Black enter the bay. Wondering
whether she had come to carry off the widow
again be secreted himself to watch her
Presently boat was lowered, several bales
were hoisted over the vessels side, and the
beat rowed TO the land and disappeared In
ono Of the numerous islets surrounding
Black Point. More and more mystified the
old mnn determined to watch their motions,
and three hours after he beheld the boat re-
turn to the schooner, which instantly
weighed anchor and made off.
The following day old Miles Judson sat
taking to u stranger from st. john who had
arrived that day. Seated within was the
bopdcorne Widow P1anlr chatting avvav with