The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-04-10
WEBS LONG WAY AROUND.

I
i nver told you about web Hawley and
the school ma am. did r. said Uncle
Daniel Sanford web was about the
! oashfuiest feller on earth in them days.
He was boaTdia' with Us that summer,
! eeWa TO talk things over with me- that
he was Just tryin' 10 sit a chance To shy
around her, but never let Or. He'd come
eyenins and want 20 know what !
/ thought was the best way TO handle sick
calves or mebbe he'd ask If I'd rather put
! out huckWheat on low ground, or some
/ thing OF that kind. One evening when we
/ were settin' on the front steps talkin'
/ ABOUT it, cut come the school ma an, and
l might tell you that she was one of
the beautifulest little creatures I ever
seen. You ought OF heard her play on
I tbs meiodeon. too. She could almost
make you think il was heaven, turnin'
and lool1ln' at you with them eyes OF
hers every little while and never missin
note I went in and left them talkin'
! there but all could hear was her voice,
with Web kind @ drawlin', oh, I dunno,
once and a while TIL It got SO late I went
&c bed and forgot all about EN-. Web
come the next night, and she went out
or the porch again and left EN- there.
and it went on that way night after
night for month or two. and hirn never
at the start, with his oh. I dunno
"One Sunday along in July instead of
goin' homo up in town sch stayed over at
our house and Web he come around
pretty soon with his best clos on. They
got out on the porch. and I was inside
near the open winder, whereI couldn't
help hearin' what they said. and them
sposin' all the time that I had went TO
church with NAV.
After they'd been kind OF quiet a long
time she says:
What did you say?
'Nothin' says Web.
" oh, she says, I thought you spoke
No says Web.
Well. YOU were just soin' to. though.
weren't you?' she says.
oh. I dunno says Web.
Sposing.' she says, that you had
been goin TO, what would you have
said?'
oh. dunno says Web.
Well, IL you had not been goin' to
speak then, but were just gettin' ready
70 say something now, what would it
hep she asked him.
Oh. ] duno.' says Web.
After that didn't hear anything for
pretty long spell, and then she says:
g How would you like TO have me look
ar your hand and tell your fortunes?
Il could hear Web breathin' hard and
short, and pretty soon he says kind of
faint and gaspy:
A" Oh, / duno.'
Then she hitched her chair over to
where he sot and in about half minute
she commenced 70 tell him what was
goin' to happen.
" What queer fortune you have she
says. You are goin' to marry a widow
with six children
Then she stopped a bit, but Web didn't
say nothia.
shes tall and has reddish hair, she
says, and you win be very happy, but
you'll only live few years after you get
married to her
Il heard Web give a cough then 10
nothin.
"'You'n meet her very soon now. she
says, and fall in love with her at first
sight. But you don't look as though
you believed what I'm tellin' your
Web didn't say a word.
'She viii be several years older than
you, the school-teacher said, but you
ought to make any difference where we
love, do your
- oh, I dunno he says.
You would just as soon marry a
lady who was several years older than
you are as not. wouldn't YOU? she asked
him.
a. NO says Web.
why not?" says she.
oh, I dunno. says he.
by that time felt like goln' out there /
and THROWN him off the porch and
givin him a good swift kick or two be-
sides, and 1 guess she was Disguised, too, |
because she didn't say anything for quite |
4 long time. Then at last she says to
him:
I'm afraid I'll have 20 get you 10 !
excuse me, and she got up.
4 heard him gittin up, too. then, and /
Dushin' his chair back from the edge of /
he porch. She said goodbye TO him |
and he walked down the path to the /
front gate. When he got there and had /
{ shut behind him ne hollered back kind /
If slow and solemn:
You said she was widow. didn't !
you?'
Yes. she answered. with several
T don't believe IN fortune tellin'.'
'ays he.
% Why not? says she
Cause you amt a red-headed widow
With children. says he.
But it seemed to me he took the
,lamedest longest way around to get to it
II anybody I ever seen"