The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-10-12

| voice the merits of its possesSors, and 1t
| enhanceth their attractions thousand
| fold rendering even the most ordinary of
aspect more dazzling than the sun at noon
day. S,7i'
While it were better for the portionless
maid had she been born man, for he hath
but to choose, and, behold with the shekels
of his bride shall his Golfers be filed to
OVERLOOKING, and the fame thereof shall
extend through all the land.
Now, the mother of the widows mite,
being a woman and sorely distressed, gave
ear unto voice that whispered to her and
was guided by it, for she recognized it as
the voice of her colaborer against the peace
of man, when it spoke to her saying:
"Arise, o woman of little gumption,
and go you into the presence of the con-
firmed bachelor, even him who, because of
the hatred he beareth to woman for the
evil she hath brought upon man in that
through her he must toll and labor all the
days of his life, is called the misogynist,
and deceive him as you know how.
"For he who seeketh not must be
sought, as the fisher seeketh the fish in the
sea and the hunter pursueth the nimble
hare.
eth forth most freely.
''Seek you, therefore, his assistance even
to the fulfllment of your laudable desire,
and remember the more difficult the deed
the greater the reward and the glory there
unto.
However, be not downcast and let not
your soul be troubled, for all men are
weak, and the weakest are they who are
Al -+,. fo,, y yha ic IN,
vulnerable liveth not.
'And I shall be with you even to the
end, lest perchance his luck prevail against
you ~
Having spoken thus, the voice ceased
and was silent.
Then the widow hustled that danger
might not be courted by delaying. She
clothed herself in twilight tints of mauve
and amethyst, bound her waist with a
girdle of jet and her hair with band of
the same, for she still lived with the dead,
and saying no word of her scheme to any
one she set forth to do as she had been
commanded.
But coming to him to whom she had
been sent, uncovering her face, for it was
fair to look upon, she opened her mouth
and spoke, and the man was much bewil-
dered by her words, for the unexpected had
happened, for which he was not prepared
and at sight of her his strength seemed to
ooze out at his finger tips and the memory
of his hatred to depart from him.
And the voice of the woman was as gen.
tie as that of the dove, though her words
were the words of tho serpent.
And the words were these:
-"Suffer me little that l may tell you
the meaning of my coming unbidden be-
fore you That the object of my seeking
you may not remain hidden and a matter of
conjecture I, who love truth and candor,
will avow at once that l am she whom
men hold up to scorn and derision as the
scheming mother.
''But l scheme not as she who aims
through artiice and fraud at the securing
of a husband for her daughter who other
wise would remain in stock until the day
of the last inventory.
ssBut rather that my child that l love,
the only one the Lord intrusted to my
cares may not be taken from me and
brought to dwell in the land of the
stranger out of my sight foreyermore.
''But. g. +''a contrary. nv wish is that