The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-06-10
THE WIDOW SMITH.
What a Careful Study of Brooklyn's City
Directory Reveals About Her.


Directory Reveals About Her.
The Widow Smith is most interesting
| individual. She is young and old, placid
| and irritable, rich and poor, lean and fat
| tall and short, dark and light, beautiful
and plain, blessed with many children, des
titute of any, devout church member, a
non-churchgoer, devoted to bread making
and unable to cook at all. She is fond Of
dress, and she takes no heed of her clothes
She is gay and sad at once, sick and we'll
tired and overlooking with buoyant spirits
wise in the learning of the ancients and
unable to write her name. She cherishes
the most contradictory hopes, fears, preiu-
dices, beliefs, opinions, loves, hates, ten
denotes. She has passion for candy and
pickles, tragedy and comedy Booths
Hamlet and Hoyt's Tin Soldier"
The Widow Smith lives in Brooklyn.
Brooklyn is indeed the paradise of widows.
1t would be an interesting subject for in
vestigation why the City of Churches
should be so fatal, apparently, to married
men. Or is it that its quieter streets form
calm eddies in the rushing currents of
metropolitan life unto which those ship
wrecked of hope steer their shattered
barks for sheltered sailing on narrower
waters, or for peaceful anchorage, await
ing the final dissolution? Brooklyn is an
immense harbor full of such disabled YES
sells.
Some of these banks bend new sails to
their masts, and make brave shift against
the winds and tides. Brooklyn widows
are found, to drop the metaphor, earning
their bread at dressmaking millinery and
minor arts and crafts of thousand de-
scriptions. They keep candy and station
cry stores, they sell hardware, two of them
are undertakes and one runs fish mar
ket. They peddle milk and fruit and but
ter about the streets, they preserve fruits
and experiment with home bakeries. They
engage in large ventures once in awhile
One of them carried on for years an i'm
portant dry goods business, and retired
with an ample fortune a couple of seasons
ago. Her masculine successor, who tried
to improve upon her methods on the same
site, became bankrupt with astonishing
promptitude. 1t is a widow who runs,
over a masculine name, a well known
mems clothing store.
The Widow Smith-who though lost in
generalities must not be forgOtten-is able
to cherish such variety of tastes and eX
hibit such inconsistencies of character be-
cause there are 1853 of her, without count
ing the young widows Smith who live
at home with their parents and so are I'M
known to the directory, and without max
ing reckoning either of the Smyth, Smythe,
Smitt, Smits, Smidh, Smeitz, Smid, Smet,
Schmitz, Schmitte, Schmitt, Schmits,
Schmit, Schmidts, Schmidt and Schlnid
widows, who form of themselves "a large
and influential element in the community"
1t is interesting to note the names borne
by the Widows Smith. Thirty of her are
known as Mary Smith, thirteen as Cath
crime, twelve as Elizabeth, ten as Sarah,
six as Eliza, five each as Ann, Annie, Mar
garet and Susan. There are four Bridgets,
three Emilys, three Louisas, three Helens,
three Marias and two each who are called
Abbie Alice, Amelia, Anna, Anne, Caro-
line, Carrie, Ellen Emeline, Josephine,
Julia, Martha, Minnie, Rebecca and Rose
There is only one Widow Adelia, Adeline,
Annette, Barbara, Charlotte, Chary, Chris
tiana, Deborah, Della, Dora, Ella, Har-
riett, Harriette, Hattie, Kate, Laura, Let
tie, Lizzie, Lucretia, Lydia, Marguerite,
Marie, Rosanna, Selma, Jane, Sinia, So
ply, Veronica, Susanna and Vida Smith.
New York Recorder.