The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-10-16
A WIDOW AND A wIDoWEfs.


I
They looked upon Aaron Turner at
( the family hotel III Paris where he
was stopping as something OF a curl
oslty. he dld not look at all like the
man who travels. On the contrary, they
set him down as a tiller of the soil. and
wondered how he had ever found his
way. across the Atlantic. He was slow
moving and slow spoken, with what
seemed religious turn of mind. He
/ had quoted scripture to a walter who
! had overcharged him, and he had ex-
pressed the hope to the landlords face
4 that he was walking the straight and
narrow path while charging five times
I the ordinary price for candles.
They had looked to see Mr.. Turner
register as Judge or General" and
they had expected him to boast of his
herds OF cattle IN Montana or his oil
wells in Texas. but he had disappointed
them His name Went down as plain
Aaron turner, and though ne added
u s. A. after It the letters we're not
conspicuous for their size and flour
ishes. After a week or so it came to
! be understood that he was widower
having lost his dearly beloved about
year before, but that was about all they
could get out of him.
When plain Mrs. John Gates arrived
at the same hotel q few days later than
! plain Aaron Turner, she also proved to
be something of an enigma. She had
no diamonds and no sIvle. She was
dressed in mourning and was often
found with tears in her eyes. The head
waiter said TO himself that she and Mr..
Turner might have occupied adjoining
rooms in the county Of Podunk. She
had little to say and was economical
with her funds, and it WAS almost by
accident that a chambermaid found out
that her husband had died at a small
village in the south of France, and that
she was lingering behind for few days
before setting sail for home
In due time. which in this case
meant two days after her arrival. the
widow Gates was sought out by plain
Mr.. Turner. His first excuse for pre-
senttng himself before her was that
both were Americans; his second was
that both had lost their beloved part
ners. and that there should be a bond
I of sympathy between them. The widow
admitted with tears in her eyes that
both excuses We're good. and after bit
they grew friendly. Mr.. Turner ex-
1 planned that the hotel people made a
mistake when they took him for a far
mer and an exhibitor of prize pump
/ kins at the county fair. He was VIII
/ lager, owning the only house with
manSard roof in the town. and he had
4 a warehouse and sold chilled plows and
/ land fertilizers. He had made the trip
abroad in order to forget his grief In
1 this he had only partly succeeded.
Every time he remembered how his
Sarah went down to the millpond to
draw water for the Monday wash and
/ fell in and was drowned his loneliness
/ came back to him in a way that made
him want to die and share her grave
/ with her.
The fearful widow Gates was also
communicative. She had made the trip
with her husband in hopes that it
would improve his left lung. 1t had
been hard scraping to get the money
/ together. and the last $40 had been
raised on the family sewing machine.
Just as the lung seemed to be growing
/ better, her dear departed had been
/ taken off with typhoid fever and bur
4 led among a race of people who drank
absinthe instead of buttermilk. and
! shrugged their shoulders instead of
swearing right out She resorted to
tears as she finished her plant Mr..
4 Turner spoke consoling words. He re-
minded her that in the midst of life we
were in death, and that human nature
! was so constituted that it could not go
on grieving forever. AS matter of
fact, the widow felt quite chirked UP
! when he took his departure and dur
ing the next two weeks they were often
/ seen together. They became quite con-
ndentisl before the widower decided to
trust the widow with secret. He
wanted to do something for the minis
ter and the Sunday school class at
home. Deacon Pegram would be ex-
pecting some sort of a present and
| there was his sister. who kept house
for him. Taken altogether, he would
be expected to make q score of pres
| ents. While none of them would be of
| great value. each one would be cher
ished for the sake of the giver. AS the
two we're going home on the same
steamer. and as he had only small
trunk with him, would the widow kind
~ take charge of the packages as he
brought them to her?
The widow would and did. While she
I was financially hard up, she was also
buying a few presents. and all could
go into her trunk together. The two
didn't go out together nor shop to-
gether. For some reason they didn't
propose such thing to each other al
though 1t would have been perfectly
proper. The Frenchmen realized that
it would have been proper. and when
it didn't occur they shrugged their
shoulders and muttered something