The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1892-10-22
THE WIpOW'SLOVE POWDER

THE WIDOW'SLOVE POWDER
When he first saw her she was a
widow. She was still quite young,
not over six and twenty, and her
short, curly hair, of a dark brown
shade, made her look even younger.
There was q pathetic look in her
gray eyes that first drew Marsh
Kendall's attention to her-that and
one other thing that appeared extra
ordinary to him.
He had been lettering around the
little suburban station waiting for the
train to the city until the heat had
brought on one OF the severe head
aches he so much dreaded. A man
cannot abuse nature as Kendall had,
working all day and half the night in
the mines for months at a stretch,
without nature resenting the neglect
of her laws.
So it happened that while the spirit
OF the mines had rewarded his zeal by
casting gold galore into his toil-woln
hands, nature had retaliated by visit.
ing him with a severe nervous head.
ache every few weeks.
An accident had delayed the train
for an hour, and Kendall took advan-
tage of the delay to look up a drug
store and obtain temporary relief for
his aching head.
Not two squares from the station
he found what he was looking for. A
little, o~ne,story building displayed
the sign, Drugs and Medicines" and
Kendall entered the store and looked
around for the druggist. A slight rus
tie behind the prescription case made
him turn his eyes in that direction in
time to see the person emerge.
1t was the young woman with pa
thetic gray eyes and short curly hair,
and she advanced with an air which
strove to be business.like and brisk.
The years that he had spent away
from civilization had not robbed
Marsh Kendall OF his innate reverence
for woman. He removed his hat with
a courteous if somewhat ungraceful
bow and asked for the druggist.
II amthe druggist; what can I do
for your" asked the young woman, q
little smile playing round the sad
curves of her mouth and chasing the
shadows from the depths of the gray
eyes.
Kendall's perception was keen, and
after another glance at her he noticed
the dress of black, unrelieved by sim
gle glimpse of white, and thought she
had taken the place Of her dead faith
81, or possibly her husband, and was
trying to breast the pillows of COM
mercial life. ~
A woman conducting such business
was a novelty to him. but during the
ten years he had been away strange
things had happened and Kendall &C.
cepted this as one of them. Reluct-
antly, however, for he was one of
those men who think of q woman
adjoining a home and making it the
brightest spot on earth for husband
and children, not as a bread-winner.
"What would you advise for q
severe headache?"he asked. recovering
from his first surprise.
The little curly head WIS abent slight
ly sideways, as the druggist reflected.
"Antipyrine is good, and antikamnia,
too" she said, "but perhaps these are
still BETTER" and she took a box from
a shelf and extracted some grayish-
looking capsules from it.
"These are marked sure cure,'" she
said, "and I have no doubt if you
have faith enough they will carry out
their promise" .
Man is a creature of such imagina-
ton, that as soon as he had swallow.
ed a capsule, washed down with q
glass OF cold water, Kendall's head
ache began to subside.
Reluctantly he left the store and
stepped into the hotel across the
street. He wanted very much to
know the history Of the young
woman, yet shrunk from asking
about her. He was relieved of this
necessity by the. landlord, who was
only too glad to have some n to
talk to. - ..
"Guess you was surprised to see a
woman runnin' drug store, wasn't
your" he asked with a little chuckle.
II was, indeed" replied Kendall"
and the question in his eyes led tho
|loquacious landlord on.
"She's the Widow -Kingsbury and
her husband was a druggist. He was
a trifin' kind of a fellow, never half
good enough for her and he took from
bad to worse. They had been mar
ried six years when he died after g.
protracted spree. Then she found
out that he had taken the money she
had toiled and worked for to help
pay. his insurance premiums and
spreed with it.
tIt was perfectly heartrendin' to see
her despair when she found out how
he had deceived her and left her with
only the little store. She was sick
after his death-that accounts for her
curly HAIRCUT as soon as she could
creep around she opened up the store
and has kept pluckilya at tever since"
Kendall ground his teeth at the re-
|cital. His heart gave q great throb OF
pity for the poor little druggist, and
pity is akin to love-
he had come down to the little
place to look at some property that
was for eale. It was rather q grand
country house and although the price
Was reasonable he had concluded not
to take it. But now, for obvious
reasons, he changed his mind, and
&onl:rc ,,o,.oh tNnt&or -o1{ynd 0ros.n1 ~