The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-07-05
TWO MEN AND A WIDOW
(Copyrighted in 1902 by the Mcclure

LAWS ana CaleD Jones as 10 VINO
should win the love and the hand of
Mary Doyle. There was rivalry, but
no i'll feeling. When Caleb won the
prize, Anson slapped him on the back
and said:
"All right, Caleb. You are the
lucky man. I don't believe I was
ready to marry just yet anyhow. I'll
wait two or three years and then
marry your widow"
"That's mighty kind of you," an
swered Caleb. II have heart trouble
and may not live a year, and the
thought that you'll take my place
will make me die content"
Six months after the marriage Cal
eb Jones went down to the city on
business. He had never been drunk
in his life, but he got drunk to cele-
brate this occasion. While in be-
fuddled state he was carried aboard of
ship bound for the east, and when
his sober senses returned he was on
blue water. Meanwhile, as he did not
return to his village home, an alarm
was raised, and for the space of three
weeks Caleb figured in the public
press and police reports as "myste-
riously missing" Then a body was
found in the river, identified as his
and shipped home for burial.
Soon after the funeral Anson Davis
called on the widow and said:
MARY, I don't know whether Ca
1eb ever told you about it or not, but
there was an understanding between
us that in case he died I was to step
into his Shoes -
"I believe he did mention some
thing of the kind" !" replied the relict.
"That was kind of him and saves
any further explanation. 1 guess you
thought almost as much of me as you
did of him, but he happened to save
your life from COW one day while 1
was out of town. Poor Caleb We
shall miss him and mourn for him,
but at the end of the year we'll be
married"
That settled it. The days and
weeks and months went by, and the
widow put off her weeds and Arson
bought his wedding suit. The mar
riage day was set, the friends were in
vited and the minister was engaged,
and another twenty-four hours would
have made the Widow Jones Mrs.
Davis, when in walked Caleb. He
had recovered from his spree and re-
turned from China.
81 wouldn't have blamed you a
Bit" he said to the astonished wife
when he learned what was about to
happen. "Of course you thought 1
was dead, and it was all right far you
to marry Anson. I might have writ
ten, but somehow I never got around
to it. Sorry to have made any trou-
ble."
And when Anson Davis heard of
the arrival and came rushing over
with his eyes bulging out Caleb gave
him hearty handshake and said:
"Hope haven't disappointed you,
Anson. 1t was mighty kind of you
to offer to marry Mary, and I'm glad
she accepted you, but my coming
home knocks it all out, of course.
Don't feel hard toward me, old man."
"I'm disappointed, of course" re-
piled Anson, but I suppose I got to
put up with it. How's the heart
trouble?"
"Awfully bad"
"Well, maybe you won't last long.
1t was sort of mean trick, but re-
member that 1 stand ready to marry
Mary whenever you drop out"
1t was year before Caleb had any
further adventure, although his heart
trouble grew worse, and the doctors
told him he was liable to drop dead
any day. He went away one day on
seven mile journey to visit sister,
and while crossing bridge on which
a crowd had gathered to watch the
food the bridge gave way with a
crash and thirty-si people were swa1-
lowed up in the rushing waters.
That Caleb was among the swallow
ed there could not be doubt, as half
a dozen people who knew him saw
him go down. During the next three
weeks most of the bodies were dis
covered, and his was among the num-
Der. The widow identified it by a
dozen different marks and had been
very particular about it, because An
son Davis had said:
Mary, of course shall marry you
when the year is up, and we can't af
ford to have any more mistakes"
The body was duly buried and the
weeds were put on for the second
time. The tombstone over the grave
said that Caleb was not dead, but
only gone before. In that the cpl
taph was partly right and partly
wrong. Had it said that he was not
dead, but only gone down the Ohio
river, it would have hit the nail on
the had.
For a time Anson Davis kept a
doubt in his mind, and the widow
never looked at Caleb old boots with
out wondering if she could possibly
have been mistaken in her identified
ton. But as time went on Caleb lit
tie way of breaking in upon matrimo-
nial programmes was forgotten. As
the year was drawing to close, An
son suggested that date be named,
and Mary named it.