The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1904-11-30

And when . widow decides she needs
another helpmeet she sizes up the can
didates with mighty cold, calculatin'
eye first, while widowef acts as II
he was afraid the supply would run
out before he got a chance to get one.
ITO my mind, there's one time, and
one time only, for marriage. It's when
you're young an in love, so young an
so much in love that nothing else mat
ters at all. A second marriage Is like
a set of false teeth-a more or less
passable substitute for the first accord.
ing to fit, but dreadful hard to write
poetry about"
You're powerful set against such
things, It seems" complained Daniel.
Now, I want to know what you'd do
in case you was left? Wouldn't you
turn an marry again?"
Maybe | would. Maybe l would,
Danl," Nathan sighed. "A man an
moth has habit sometimes of a cut.
tin loose from everything an flying
plum in the face of Providence"
~ yOu tnlnh Oubut
Abby Bell, them"
"Umi-perhaps She amt so old but
she might he older. An she's proba-
bly, so unselfish that she'd marry you
for your own good. Yes, Abby could
likely scrape up enough romance to be
happy herself, an she'd be 80 perfect
ly proud that she had got a man, after
oil haN hAf Ia a
young JORDAN that | Judge is what
you're looking for"
Now, Nathan"--Daniel leaned for
ward and put his hand on his friends
shoulder-"as man to man, as the man
in light to a man in the darkness,
is 1t the thing-marriage Can you, in
the face of your knowledge and expert
ence say SOTO mel"
Nathan cleared his throat huskily.
"Comrade, don't you gather from
what I've ever said to you that Zerelda
hasn't been a good companion to me.
I've talked mighty triflin' about my
wife, which Is a thing no man ought
to do, but I've got the savin' grace
to be ashamed of IL. When she left her
was a sore trial to her. She thought a
heap of her mother, an she bid her
good-by realizin' that she could never
hope to see her again. She jest put
her hand in mine and set her face to
the west, an If she ever looked back,
| like Lots wife, never knowed It. We
didn't have much to come to. Only a
In o1a nj ~ "a oil
fled it into a shinin' palace, an it was
not long until there was a curtain at
the window, flower in the garden an
babe in the cradle-three things to
make man happy"
We've raised four children an bur.
led two, Danl, an If ever a woman
done her duty by her family it was her.
to devote to the cause of sufferin' hui
manity in general A houseful of chill.
dren will keep woman out of lots OF
devilment. Dan1, | use tobacco, fish
a good deal, an play cards whenever
/ get the chance; while Zerelda tends
church an prayer meetin', feeds
preachers and delegates, wrestles with
/ the utIioH luNi all pItttuuS W sdHCti-
fication; an now that come to think
of it, reckon, after all, its simply diff.
ferent ways we have of enjoying our
selves, an she's as much right to her
way as l have to mine. An I'll go
further, and remark right here, that
If any other man would say the things
of my wife that I've said of her, I'd
bust his head open. | would"
Nathan" said Daniel, hoarsely, Its
-it's-a-goin' to be Abby"
The two old men clasped hands, and
looked long and darkly into the waters
of the race, that, like the stream OF
life, could never turn backward.
The two sycamores alike bound to-
gether swayed and bent low in the
breeze, appearing with outspread arms
and rustling foliage to be whispering
benediction.
A golden leaf fluttered loose, and
turning over and over, fell gently into
the water. and the ripples spreading
in slowly widening concentric circles
seemed at last, like life and love, tc
reach from shore to shore.-Allen G.
Garrigue in indianapolis Journal.