Connecticut western news., 1906-07-26
Three Old Maids
 and a Widow
By (. B. LEWIS
Copyright, laoa, by NJ. N. Cunningham

There are few towns of 1,500 popu. lation that can boast of three old maids and q widow living on the same street, but that was the case with Clifton. Miss Vinton was an cd maid because she never had met with man good enough for her. Miss Hopkins was an old maid because the young man she would have married at eighteen was sawed in two in Il sawmil and she had vowed to be true 10 his memory. Mss Warner was an old maid because she was determined to marry none but a minister. and all the ministers who came were already provided for. The Widow Carter was a widow because part of a house had fallen on her huS- band.
 The old maids and the widow were on visiting terms-in fact, they rather liked each other. Where there are no male candidates for matrimony con- cerned old maids and widows can sit down together on the same verauda without quarreliag. After the widow had Solemnly assured the old maids that nothing on the face of this earth could induce her to be false to the memory of her crushed. the quartet loved each other even more.
 One day one of the merchants in the town sold out and q stranger came te take his place If he had been a mar ried man the dove of peace would have continued to hover over Rose street. but as he was single, only thirty and a "catch" the dove saw a hot time ahead.
 The widow let no grass grow under her feet in calling at the store and in- cidentally mentioning her name and or .dering four pounds of sugar all at once. She was one of the Four Hun dred of the town. and on the part of the other 800 she hade MT. Strong wei come to their midst. When he had thanked her she ordered two nutmegs and paper of starch, in addition to the sugar, to let him understand that she wasn't obliged to pinch pennies, and then departed.
 An hour later her reprehensible con- duct was known to the three old maids, and up went three pairs of hands; six eyes were turned upward in horror and three mouths opened to exclaim in cho- rus, How shocking"'
 Then, during the next two days, each of the old maids made an excuse to call at the store and follow the pro- gramme carried out by the widow. Each thought she was sly and slick, but they found each other out, and from that moment the bond of friend ship snapped asunder like an old clothesline left out in the storms of a year.
 When women make war on each oth- CT they don't use fence rails to pound each other on the head. Tn most cases they go right on treating each other as nicely as they can to their faces, but using daggers and the darkness to as sasSinate. The three old maids and the widow gathered together as of yore. but the dagger was used whenever there was the least show.
 MT. Strong proved a social success. The widow gave a little dinner and brought him out, but the old maids really monopolized him for the even ing. Then Miss Warner gave an exhi- bition of her own paintings, which con. sisted of a COW apparently thirty-s!S feet long and of river running up stream instead of down, and the wid ow held MT. Strong's attention for aI hour while she talked about her crush ed and departed
 At the end of six weeks the man who rbs h,I on the mill dam figured it out to hi: wife:
 There are three old maids to ont widow, but if the widow gets left shel be the first one ever heard of
 Even the small boys around town no ticed how girly the old maids were be coming. They giggled. they uttered cute little screams when they turned { corner and found themselves face t( face with a COW. they Uttered wheI they asked for gum drops at the gro cery. As for the widow, she set he jaw and walked into the store two O. three times a week 10 ask the mer chant if he thought the Seyenty-Sev enth National bank of Boston was per fectly sound and to sigh with relic when he assured her of his confidenc, in the institution. Sly reports wer, soon af1oat that MT. Strong was payin, his attentions to this or that one of tn four. Then the other three would repl, as one:
 Well. may be he is, but what ol earth he can see in her is more than can make out She grows more home ly and dowdified every day. Of cours I'm telling you this in confidence. and of course, it won't go further"
 One fatal evening tragedy after trag edy happened. and the light went ou of several happy households. Nil Strong boarded with a family iivin; half d mile from the store. He wante, the walk. He had to cross the bridg over the river and ascend a hill GOV cred with woods, and there wasn't house between his boarding place am the town.
 The three old maids and the widoy had had their eyes on this road fror the first. They had soon begun walk ing for exercise. They didn't walk a the hours the merchant might be eS pected. and if they encountered eac
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