The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-04
WIGGLESBY'S LOVE.

Wu6u d mttu 1ldS l1FSO W UuO Ad0-
ture age of 40 outside the pale of
matrimony and during the last half
dozen years of that period has
scarcely looked at woman, there
is very little hope for him.
Such, at least, was the case with
Hezekiah Wigglesby. Whenever
Wigglesby saw himself in his mir
ror, which happened once a day,
when he shaved himself (not being
vain or woman, Wigglesby had no
occasion to consult it oftener), ne
had deplorable habit of addressing
congratulatory remarks TO his re
fection in.the glass on the fact that
they-he and the shadow-were
able to get along without the silly
SEX" as Wigglesby alliteratively
expressed it.
use the term deplorable, and it
certainly is, deeply so, when an 9th
erwise sensible man is addicted to
talking to himself in the glass and
trying to deceive himself into the
belief that he is a perfectly happy
and contented old bachelor, when
such thing is an utter anomaly
and impossibility.
Wigglesby knew at the bottom OF
his heart that the life he was lead
ing was unsatisfactory and incom-
plete, that his daily self congratula-
tions were hollow mockery and a
farce, and one thing more than all
else that caused him to realize this
was an occasional glimpse which
was vouchsafed him of plump
young widow who had recently
moved into the roomy old farm
house across the way.
For years the place opposite had
beer what ie known as ian aban-
doned farm but it had lately come
into the possession of Mrs. Wiltsey,
substantial and pleasant looking
widow, who, in company with a
younger sister, had moved there
from the city to engage in the fas-
cinating and (sometimes) profitable
pursuit of chicken raising.
Until they came Wigglesby' S daily
vision had been undisturbed L. the
sight of a woman, save when one
happened to drive by, and in that
case there was no law compelling
Wigglesby to look at her, and he
usually didn't.
Wigglesby attended to himself aft
er fashion of his own which was
certainly original, though it prob
ably would bother him some to Sc
cure patent on it.
He had way of making bed,
for instance, so that nobody on earth
except Wigglesby himself could tell
which end was intended for the head
and which the foot, and sometimes
he couldn't. And when it came to
baking flapjacks, a dish of which he
was very fond, Wigglesby usually
distributed the dough impartially
over the top of the stove, the grid
die and the floor, so that when he
got through preparing the meal the
kitchen looked as if the battle OF
Bunker Hill had been fought over
again on the spot, with dough for
ammunition.
Itwas one of those interesting oc-
casions = when Wigglesby was
struggling with a refractory batch
of Aapjacks, / mean-that he re-
ceived his first call from Mrs. Wilt
sey, the plump widow across the
way. He had a griddle full of flap
jacks baked on one side, and he was
making heroic effort to turn them
over, using table knife for that pur-
pose, SO they could bake on the 9th
er, when pleasant face suddenly
appeared in the half opened door
way and musical voice said:
Excuse mel This is Mr.. Wiggles-
by, l presumed"
The fapjack which Wigglesby was
in the act of turning dropped with a
thud to the floor, and poor Wiggles-
by turned all the colors of the rain
bow at once and incoherently STAN.
mered:
"N-n-no-I m-mean yes, I'm
MINI. Wiggs-I should say Wig
glesby, and-and"-
"And I'm Mrs. Wiltsey, your new
ueighbor, and can't find my tack
hammer, and would like to bor-
row yours a little while if you don t
mind lending it. But see I'm inter
rupting your work, and-pardon
me, but your fiariacks are burning.
Allow me to turn them for you,
won't you. There, now they are all
right, but you really need a.
ooh, no! N-no, DON'T inter
rupted Wigslesby hastily. Really,
p
"why, yes, you do, Mr.. Wiggles-
by" calmly went on the plump
widow. "You need a regular nan