Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1904-06-29
Between Two
Stoolc
BY ALEC BRUCE
Copyright, 1908, by i. Q, Mcclure

and for both she entertained a measure
of affection and respect. In the bal.
ance she had weighed them and found
neither wanting. Tip, up went Colt
lieb, down went Hans. Tip. up went
Fans, down went Gottlieb. Tip, steady;
ounce to ounce they weighed and hung.
A very hair would sway them
'.Aeh. dey both be goot vor husbands.
Nich best, hey? I don't know now
she unused. "Gottlieb, he haaf warm.
dree hondrad acres, two horse, SOM
COW. SOM pig. an he work hard: he
pillow so much. Aoh, but Hans. he haaf
dat much, too. alretty, an he work
Elder wood do. oh, myr' And again
the widow sighed.
Now. of the well matched rivals hard
working Hans was the younger and
the handsomer, but Gottlieb. II he was
older and of coarser fiber, was more
ardent. more noticing of the small
things so dear to a woman's soul, and
II neither had popped the momentous
question, right cunningly had Gottlieb
approached IT. Yah, yah, much nearer
than Hans had ever dared to go.
Pauline" one day he had ventured
with a grin all over his vacuous face.
| you make ride goot soup Eferey day
| wish | ged mine dinner vrom you"
Dat vas near. YER near. vas it not?
Ach. bud Hans, Hans vas chust so
AWFUL handsome, too, te-he hei" snig-
gered the widow. and certainly. in the
sheepish glances. the frequent wise
like pressures of his horny hand, in his
own dumb way Hans told an equally
lattering tale.
'Ha. bud chust so val / might be
carevul. Won nefer knows" argued
the widow.
Truly for this caution the widow
had good cause. Before marriage the
late Herr Stahl, like the present suit
ors, had been weighed in the balance
and found mot wanting After mar
rage long. long, practical sermon he
had preached, the text of which had
been 1.-The waste of precious love"
And now: "Loofe. loofel oh. no; oh.
no. sneered the widow. Nit such
tings as dat haaf noting more to do
Nein. neinr'
For her man, Gottlieb or Hans,
whichever won her hand, she would
wash close, make ride goot soup, clean
house and do chust so val as she could
Bud loofe-nein, neini
In grinding matrimonial mill, to be
sure, the widow had been fiattened
nt nlxs
forgot that, while to them the practi-
cal side of the contract must have its
roseate hues, the loofe side still would
be the roster. Such was the case. For
the tender feminine signs which never
came each bashful lover had waited
long, and at last: "Ach, chust so val
wait SOM longer. Won nefer knows
Won nefer knows" each argued in his
turn.
Now, to her name the Widow Stahl
had nothing-no horse, no cow, no pig.
no dot But. worst of all, the marriage
mangie had squeezed from her that
subtle coquetry, the magnet of her sex,
and, try as she might to extract a pro-
posal from her cooling SWANS. they
NN0A hSA why ohtNPAoA HUNS, udEitl
claps and praise for culinary skill.
O'hone, what was the matter?
The widow stepped her brains.
''Ach, Colt, the sordid loonsr' It
was dowry they were after. To wash
close, to make ride goot soup, to clean
house, to do chust so val as a woman
can. was not enough for them--ach,
nAinf Af In q ata
In the old country the widow had an
oncle. Seventy years of age was the
oncle, and at seventy oncles sometimes
die. To Gottlieb and to Hans of that
oncle she had often spoken-yah, yah
Eight thousand dollars she believed he
had amassed. All, If in loofe Pauline
was weak in strategy she was strong
Mine Colt. she had a scheme!
Nv the widow of the late Auguste stahl
NIT the undersigned viii correspond of
som ting greatly to her advantage she
viii hear. In Stuttgart her aged oncle
haaf died
Four insertions such as that In the
Western Prairie Farmer and Pauline
could take her choice. Hans? Mebbe.
Gottlieb? Mebbe. Ach, chust so val
she might be carevul. The less sordid
she would choose.
''Hey:" unused Gottlleb, two weeks
later, when his gray green eyes de
voured four closely printed lines in
the personal of the Western Prairie
Farmer. "Hey, Stuttgart? Dat might
be Pauline's onele init the comfortable
vortune. Pauline, ha! she wash close;
she make ride goot soup. Wy not ged
mine dinner by her eferey day? | can
chust so val pay vor two, den. haaf
more time to work. Hey, Wy not? Und
-und to Hans. dat leetle mortgage |
could pay Hey. Wy not"
So to the widow FASTENED Gottlieb
Pauline" In a cold sweat he rambled,
his bony fingers clinching and I'M
clinching at cracking hayseed hat,
"I-I--loofe you. I-I-haaf warm,
AFaa bnnarnA aOrar g,rro bx-~n znx,ns