The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-12-20
THE WIDOWS LOVE POWDERS

uor lOOK even younger
There was a pathetic look in her gray
eyes that first drew Marsh Kendall's
attention to her-that and one other
thing that appeared extraordinary 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 headaches
he so much dreaded. A man cannot
abuse nature as Kendall had, working
all day and half the night in the mines
for months ata 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 toll worn
hands, nature had retaliated by visiting
him with a severe headache every few
weeks.
An accident had delayed the train
for an hour, and Kendall took advan-
tage of the delay to look up & 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 one-story building displayed the
sign, Drugs and Medicines, and Ken
dali entered the store and looked
around for the druggist. A slight
rustic behind the prescription case
made him turn his eyes in that direc-
ton 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 Ken
dali Of his innate reverence for women.
He removed his hat with a courteous,
if somewhat u~ngraceful low, and asked
for the druggist.
II am the druggist; what can 1 do
for you3" asked the young woman, a
little smile playing round the sad
curves Of her mouth and cha ing the
shadows from the depths of the gray
eyes.
Kendalls perception was keen and
after another glance at her he noticed
the dress of black, u%nrelieved by a
single grimpse of white, and thought
she had taken the place of her dead
father, or possibly her husband, and
was trying to breast the billo US of
commercial life.
A woman conducting such a bust
ness was a novelty to him, but during
the ten years he had been away strange
things had happened, and Kendall &C
copied this as one of them. Reluc-
family, however, for he was one of
those men who think of a 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 a
severe headache9" he asked, recover
ing from his first surprise.
The little curly head was bent slightly
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, land I have no doubt if you
have faith enough they will carry out
their promise"
Man is a creature Of such magma
ton that as soon as he had swallowed
a capsule, washed down With a glass
of gold water, Kendall's headache be
gan to subside.
Reluctantly he left the store anC
stepped into the hot1l across the street
| He wanted very much to know the
history of the young woman, yet he
shrunk from asking about her. HI
was relieved of this necessity by the
landlord, who vas only too glad tt
have soma one to talk to.
"Guess you was surprised to e
woman runnin' a drug store, WASH
youP he asked with a little chuckle.
Ct was indeed" replied Kendall
and the question in his eyes led thu
loquacious landlord on.
she's the Widow K~ingsberry ant
her husband was a druggist. He wa
a trifin' kind of fellow, never half goo(
enough for her, and he took from ba(
to worse. They had been married 81
years when he died of a ~protracte(
spree. Then she found out that he ha(
taken the money she had toiled an(
worked for to pay his insurance pre-
miums and spreed with it.