Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-01-28
A WIDOW ono A
WHOEVER

w ADO w - ~
O~~~0~o~
copyright. 1906. by Mcclure Phillips & Co
They looked upon Aaron Turner at
the family hotel in Paris where he
was stopping as something of a curl
osity. He did not look at all like the
man who travels. On the contrary.
they set him down as q 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 q religious turn of
mind.
They had locked to see Mr.. Turner
register ~ "judge" ~ general" and
they had expected him to boast Of his
herds Of cattle in Montana or bis oil
wells In Texas. but he had disappoint-
ed them. His name went down ~
plain Aaron Turner. After Z week or
% It came to b understood that he
was 4 widower. having lost his dearly
beloved about year before.
.WAen plain Ars. John Gates arrived
at tho same hotel few days later than
plain Aaron Turner. she also proved 70
b something Of an enigma. She had
NO diamonds and No STYLE. She was
dressed In mownius and was often
found with tears In hsr syss.
In due time, which In this case meant
two days after her arrival. the widow
Gates Wa sought out by plain Mr..
Turner. His frst excuse for present
Ing himself before her was that both
were Americana. His second was that
both had lost their beloved partners
and that there should b q bond Of
sympathy bstwsen them,
The fearful widow Gates was also
communicative. She Had made the trip
with her husband In the hope that It
would improve his left lung. It had
been hard scraping to get the money
together, and the last $40 had beeu
raised on the family sewing machine.
Just a the lung seemed to be growing
better her dear departed had been
taken ca with typhoid fever and bur-
led among a race Of people who drank
absinth instead Of buttermilk and who
shrugged their shoulders instead Of
swearing right out. She resorted to
tears as she finished her plant. Mr..
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 1t could not 60
on grieving forever As a matter Of
fact. the widow felt quite chirked up
when he took his departure. and dur
ing the next two weeks they were Of
ten seen together. They became quite
confidential before the widower decid-
ed TO trust thes widow with a secret
He wanted to do something for the
minister and the Sunday school class
at home. Deacon Pegram would be ex-
pecting some sort Of present, and
there was his sister, who kept house
for him. Taken altogether. he would
be expected to make score of pres
eenrs. While none Of them would be of
sgreat value, each one would be cher
isfed for the sake OF the giver. As the
two were going home ON the same
steamer and as he had only a small
trunk with him. would the widow kind
ly take charge Of the packages as he
brought them to her?
The widow would and did. While
she was financially hard up, she was
also buying few presents. and all
could 60 into her trunk together. The
two did not go out together or shop to-
gether. For some reason they didn't
propose such a thing, although IT
would have been perfectly proper. The
Frenchmen realized that 1t would have
nvSI
they shrugged their shoulders and mut-
tered something about American &C.
scentricity. BY and by sailing day
came and the widow and the widower
took the train for Havre and found
themselves on board Of their steamer
They were hardly settled when the
widower made a proposition. There
was nothing matrimonial about It. ne
had discovered that there was pas
senger on board who knew him, and
II he was seen acting as escort to the
widow there would be talk about It at
home. He therefore proposed that they
should seem to be strangers for the
voyage.
The widow was agreeable. She also
had reputation to preserve On land
ing In New York she would 20 to
certain hotel. and the widower would
call there aud say farewell and re-
ceive his presents. AS neither had
brought along anything dutiable. there
would be no trouble at the customs
house. Things were settled this way.
and no one aboard came to know that
plain Mr.. Turner and plain Mrs. Gates
had spoken words OF consolation to
each other on the soil OF France Il
was only when the steamer had sight
cd Sandy Hook that the widower look
ed at the widow In = peculiar way.
-fshe interpreted It to mean that the