Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-12-06
SHARED.

In those borighted days now gone for.
ever, gone to the dark Plutonian shore
whence there is no returning, when all
unmarried women were catalogued as "old
maids and despised accordingly, there
lived widow, the mother of an only
child, and that child a daughter.
And then, as now, the number Of
daughters outnumbered by great many
the number of sons born to man, and for
the latter there was great scramble, for
us the lesser could not equal the greater
number many were fated to get left, and
the doom Of the "hindmost" was even then
well understood, and us plague all sought
to avoid it.
And the mothers were as one with their
daughters. Combined were they both in
the pursuit of husbands for the maidens,
that the reprCach of the unwedded might
not cling unto them.
Therefore it behooved the mothers to
make the most of their daughters. to shake
well their napkins, each and every one.
lest perchanCe some hidden talent lay I'M
productive therein and to emphasize any
good points whatsoever of which they
might be possessed, that they might over
shadow and leave in the shade the daugh-
tiers Of their neighbors, for such are the
ways of women when aiding high heaven
in the occult rites of matchmaking.
But cheu, ehue and alas! In the daugh-
ter of the widow there was naught to
make much Of, neither was there anything
whatsoever to emphasize
For so deficient was the damsel in all
personal charms and the beauty which,
though but skin deep, yet sufiiceth to turn
the head of man and infame his heart
with the unqucnchable passion of love, so
neager of figure, both physically and
financially, that those given to levity and
the speaking Of idle words, for which new
ertheless strict account must be rendered
hereafter, dcridcd her and jeered at her
among themselves, calling her in con-
tempt, calling her in the pride of their
greater possessions, "tho widows mite"
And 1t coming to the ears of the widow
her heart was exceedingly sad, even as her
brain was puzzled TO know what to do as
she contemplated her daughter and the
situation, for verify she realized that the
maid being like unto her fathers people,
was indeed bankrupt in all graces save
that of virtue alone
Now virtue alone-that is, virtue with
out dots dead, and it availeth nothing
in the matrimonial market where the
sponduliX talketh, proclaiming in a loud
voice the merits Of its possessors, and it
enhanceth their attractions thousand
fold, rendering even the most ordinary Of
aspect more dazzling than the sun at noon.
day.
While it were better for the portionless
maid had she been born q man, for he hath
but to choose, and, behold with the shekels
OF his bride shall his Golfers be filled TO
overlooking, and the fame thereof shall
extend through all the land.
Now, the mother Of the widows mite.
being 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-
flrmed 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
HOo oiu OliO 1iuhGSI
hare.
From the hardest rock the water gush
eth forth most freely.
Seek you, therefore, his assistance even
to the fulallment 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
vain Of their strength, for he who is in
Vulnerable lveth not.
And l 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