Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-12
HERMIT WILCOX TRANSFORMED.
1t Was DGne by Girl of Twenty
Years, Who Is Vow Mrs. Wilcox.

From the 81. Louis Globe Democrat.
A romantic courtsh.p was the espousal
by Calvin Wilcox of pretty Matte Wil,cx
of Fayette hamlet, Miss, The whole thing
came 20 pass through leaning CT the
genealogical tree. Neither had set eyes on
the other until Miss Matte met Calvin,
who had dropped into Fayette their
bridal morning.
Calvin had been thought by his Connec-
ticut neiShbors to be somewhat curious In
the first place, he had spent most of his
life in a sort of hermit way. He is fifty
years old, and the plump and comedy bride
will soon be twenty. Calvin had dwelt in
singular style, far away in the country at
Stoneh!il, In the wilds of Griswold, ten
miles north of Norwich, Conn. He would
have no woman around him to sew on his
buttons wrong. He is rich, as things so in
the nutmeg state. owns pretty nearly all
the earth he can see from his front and
back doorsteps. las farms in every Girec-
ton, and at least $3.50 acres of choice
woodland.
He lived entirely alone and dill his own
hoUsework. The ancestral home had been
falling fer fifty Years, and Calvin just let
went. and the driving rain and drifting
snow came in. Mr.. Wilcox merely shifted
his household effects to place under the
lOpl1Ete where Ine SnISl"S were SUI toll
erahly whole. Next, doors and window
sashes came tI.nlhlnr in on him. and he
received them Hospitality and let ;hem stay
right where they had TOPPED, until one day
he emSr2tea to one of his numerous dwell
inSS--this one at Pachang Pound-on one
of his many farms. Still he kept on living
alone. To the wonder of Pachang, he went
10 the worlds fair in Chicago. and came
back safely. having accomplished his first
trip beyond the borders of the nutmeg
state
Mr.. Wilcox never wasted any time on
correspondence, he was surprised not
long ago at receiving letter from Mr..
Wilcox of Fayette. NJ s., in which the
writer said he had heard of the eastern
Connecticut branch of the Wilcox family.
and was wondering whether he and Calvin
Were net kith and kin. Calvin replied to
the letter, and soon came a second from
Fayette. written by the Mississippan's
daughter Matte. who explained gracefully
that she was her fathers amanuensis.
Thenceforward Calvin and Matte kept
exchanging correspondence, creeping high
and higher up the genealogical tree,
the letters on both sides growing more con-
fidential all the time, until not long ago the
correspondents found themselves side fy
side on the tip-tor branch of it. Mr.. Will
cox proposed marriage. photographs were
exchanged, and a week later letter came
from the fair one of Fayette favorable to
Calvin'S suit
Accordingly, Mr. Wilcox a day IT two
later, attired in the most elegant apparel
he had ever worn, packed his Garnet bag
and set out for Mississippi. All the Fay
cite folks came in to greet him. Calvin
and Matte were married at once in the
little red school house in the village, and
every one In the town attended the nup-
tials. Then bride and groom promptly set
forth on their wedding journey. which ter
minated in Calvins second homes. cad at
Pachang. and everybody In six towns
knows that he Is the happiest. most ra-
diant groom in the state. He is a changed
man. too. No more grim and lonely her
nit life in a thunderstorm shell FOR him,
but everything in the way of comfort is on
tap at Calvin WilcoX's. Calvin has repaired
the old homestead so it fairly shines in its
spick-and-span glory, and Calvin and Mat
tie in gay raiment, go a great deal in Pa
chang society.