Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1908-12-30
The Tenth Widow.
IcOpyright. lsOs. By 7. c. Mcclure.l

who was looked upon as eligible. He
was Deacon Thomas and q man Of
forty. It was generally said In the
town that those nine widows were on
the deacon's trail and that nothing
was surer than that one OF them
would ultimately capture him.
One day a new widow arrived In
town, and the deacon was almost the
nrst man to learn Of her advent. The
nine fixtures should not be permitted
to escape criticism. Any one OF them
could have solved the problem in six
months had she gone at 1t In the prop
er way.
They were watching each other. For
instance, II the Widow Barnes was
known to have sent q blackberry pie
fresh from the oven over to the dea-
con, who kept bachelors hall. the
Widow Green hustled herself and sent
strawberry shOrtcake. and the Wild
ow Black followed it with a pair of
slippers Of her own make. II the Wild
Ow Sabin saw him sitting on his porch
and smoking his pipe after supper and
stopped at his gate to ask him IL he
thought 1t paid to raise hogs In town
he would not have time to figure 1t out
before the Widow Blossom would be
along to ask him what was the best
thing to kill worms on plum trees.
The nine widows congratulated them
selves on their perseverance and
shrewdness. Each one thought she had
the game in her own hands. but each
one was destined to learn that she had
simply been frittering away her time.
There are widows and widows. There
are widows who have heads on them
and widows who sit and sigh and wait.
The teams transporting No. los house
hold effects had only driven up to the
door Of the house she had rented when
she appeared before Deacon Thomas,
who was working in his garden, to ask
him to come over and settle disputed
point with one Of the drivers. He set
tied It In her favor, of course. Then
his advice was sought as to a COW and
other matters, and the seven OF the
nine widows that came skulking about
got no show at all
The deacon went home with a new
thought in his mind. Other new
thoughts were added to 1t next day.
He was hardly through breakfast
when No 10 came over and asked him
to take care Of $500 in cash for her
until she had time to drive over to the
/ bank at Grafton. She sent him to the
store for carpet tacks, asked his assist
ance to put up window curtains, and
before noon he had a hammer IN hand
and was repairing the front fence.
widows from the list Of nine came
along and spoke of doors being out Of
order and pumps choked up and what
a nice thing 1t was to have a handy
man around, but the deacon didn't
take the hints. Next day, with her
own house still unsettled, No. 10 walk
ed over to the deacon's and drove him
outdoors to whitewash the trunks Of
his apple trees and then put his rooms
to rights. She swept and busted and
rearranged and made his bed, and
when she went home she carried some
of his garments that needed mendlng
| or patching The deacon sat down
| with his chin ON his hands and
| thought. He had to think. Some OF
the nine widows passed his gate and
/ halted to ask him this or that, but he
was so wrapped up In his thoughts
/ that he failed to see them. Mrs. Ora
/ ham sent her little boy over with a
| dish of blackberries for him, but on
the way he encountered the boy sent
by No. 10 with an angel cake and
was crowded into the ditch and his
dish emptied.
The next day the new arrival con-
fded to the deacon that she had wash
ed, ironed, baked and put up four gal
Ions of peach pickles In a day: also
that she always got a cent a pound
more for her paper rags than any
other housekeeper.
On the next day she exhibited a
railroad bond for $1,000 and said that
its keeping SO worried her that she
sometimes thought Of getting married
again.
On the next day she had the deacon
drive her over to the bank, and he saw
her deposit actual money and get a
check book. On the way home she OBJ
served that a man OF his general intel.
llgence. with a smart wife to back him.
could be elected a county supervisor
the next fall as easy as rolling on q
log.
On the next day while the nine wild
ows were holding an indignation meet.
ing at the house Of one of the number
and had sent for a minister to ask that
the past record Of the new widow be
hunted up and laid bare No. 10 entered
the deacon's orchard. where he was
still applying the whitewash brush
and said:
Deacon, | had as good as bought the
house moved into. but got to think
ing last night Suppose I should meet
a man here that was willing TO trust
nv future to. He would probably
have a house Of his own. lie. would
rather I turned money instead Of an
other house over TO him. wouldn't her
ssNaturalIy." replied the deacon 81