The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-08-22
THE FLOWER SHOW.

ate and comely. True, she was an
orphan, but as far back as she could
remember she had always been an
orphan Her home was with an
uncle and an aunt.
What troubled her was this She
had nearly passed what might be
considered the best age for women
to marry-she was GLAND was not
married Had IL not been for her
property she might have been mar
ried long ago. Nevertheless, Alicia
was country girl. If she married
she would marry a farmer.
On her return from college she
did not think of marriage. She had
resources within herself which were
greatly broadened by her education.
For time she read books on the
lines marked out for her in college
and was satisfied But one morning
she awoke to the fact that she was
drifting into perpetual splnsterhood
the prospect did not please her. She
thought over the bachelors of her
acquaintance and after some deliber-
alton settled on sllas Blakely, a
young farmer with little on his farm
except mortgage. On him she re-
solved to bestow her hand.
She did not know that Blakely
would care to marry her. though she
rather thought he would. But, con-
sidering she was well ~ do and he
was poor, she knew he would not
have the assurance to propose to her.
She must propose TO him. How
should she propose?
One evening Alicia saw Blakely
coming up the road, driving the
stock from pasture. Hurrying into
the garden she gathered a bouquet
and said to It:
81 take you, beautiful flowers, with
your pink and blue and crimson and
white compilations, to be my welded
husband"
Then, calling to her aunt, she told
her TO take them TO the well and
throw them In as soon as Blakely
came opposite, making sure he saw
! her doing so. The aunt took the
bouquet, went to the well and when
the young farmer passed acted as
she had been told.
"Why do you throw those beauti-
full flowers away?" called Silas.
"They are my husband" said ALI
cia from the porch. I'm a widow"
What do you mean by that?"
Have you ever heard of the pro-
verb, Go to the ant, thou sluggard-
consider her days and be wiser"
yes"
We'll, II you wish to know the
meaning of my being married to the
flowers, go to your books and If YOU
| hunt patiently you will find out"
With this she went into the house
Blakely hurried on to overtake the
stock which had passed during the
brief dialogue, but he knew not Of
horses or cows; the strange episode
had got into his head, and he was
| filled with wonder as to what it
meant While Alicia had been tell
| ing him that she was a widow she
had looked upon him kindly, and her
| voice, which was sweet, stlll sound
ed pleasantly in his ears
Now, Slas Blakely was no fool.
| His education was good for a coun-
| tryman, but he neither had the
books nor the inclination TO hunt
! through them for any Interpretation
OF such an tnane proceeding. One of
| his schoolmates, however, had gone
to college and had become profes-
sor. To him Blakely wrote an ae-
count Of the episode, asking for AN
| Interpretation.
Alicia possibly wished to test ST.
las common sense.
II was a long while before he re-
ccived the Interpretation TO the CO.
nundrum, but when II came he open
ed his eyes and his heart started up
at gait OF hundred beats to the
minute. The same evening, getting
off his farm clothes aud into very
respectable outfit in when, by the
way, he looked very we'll he went to
call on Alicia:
II have come" he said, "to offer
all have-that Is, my farm with q
mortgage on it-for the flower wild
! ow."
And how" she asked blushing
and smiling, did you learn what ia
meant by a flower widow"
Blakely told her Of his application
and showed her the reply, which was
as follows:
'In India a man often remains UNI
married longer than he would de,
sire simply because he cannot afford
to pay the sum the father of de-
sirable daughter demands of his
would-be son-in-law Widows how.
ever, are cheap. and willy father
who finds his daughter is getting on
in years while suitors tarry takes
advantage of this fact. He marries
his girl TO bunch of flowers. which
he then throws into a well. Thus
the lady becomes technically a wild
ow, and as such she is a bargain in
the marriage market. Thus the flow-
er widow is secured as a wife by a
suitor who would not have dared Of
fer small sum for her before her
so. called marriage"
| T. N a,