The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1909-10-29
AN EDITOR
!, AND A WIDOW
By N. QUAD.

Banner was hard up. He was hard
up when he established the Banner.
six years before, and he had been hard
up every day since. He was middle
aged man, but hard-upness had added
ten years to his age. He had been a
rat man while running sawmill. but
the hard-upness of newspaper life had
made human toothpick of him. On
this certain day, as he sat looking out
nm editorial window, he had to admit
that another month would see the sus.
pension OF the Banner and the end OF
the world unless the unexpected han.
pened.
On this same day and hour the
Widow spicer. whose buck yard touch.
ed the Banner Office and was under
surveillance from some of it's windows.
sat down on the back doorstep with
her sewing. She was plain under the
editorial eye. In fact, he thought her
the homeliest woman he ever saw. All
the rest Of Granville thought the same
way: All visitors TO the town were
unit on this subject Az a matter
Of fact, the widow was corpulent
cross eyed. wheezy, lop shouldered and
; had a cast In her left eye.
For half an hour the editor SURVEYED
Der. and she looked up occasionally and
knew that he was doing so, and then
a bright thought flashed to his brain.
He Rugged 1t there for ten minutes
and then dropped out OF the window
without hat OF coat and approached
her. They bad long known each other,
He knew that she vas homely. and
she knew be was hard up As she
looked up and nodded he took a seat
beside hef. clasped his hands around
one Of his knees and began:
Widow spicer. every widow ought
20 marry again."
y agree with you." she promptly re.
piled.
"And every editor ought to have
money"
HE surely had, Mr.. Poor
well. our talk Is strictly confden.
tial. For 500 In cash the Banner will
get you a husband, and you needn't
pay cent until after the ceremony"
She said a good deal, and he said a
good deal. and as result the next ls-
sue OF the Banner contained the IN.
nouncement that she was engaged to q
rich man In Boston and would soon be
married and leave Granville The
second issue denied the first. A rich
relative Of the WIDOWS had died, aud
she would remain right in Granville
until she had found the man of her
choice. The third issue stated that
she had turned down seven offers that
week and that the readers Of the Ban.
ner would hear Of a surprise on the
next The editor made good. He had
prevailed upon the widow, be said, not
to throw herself away upon the first
millionaire that came along. but to
give all eligible candidates 4 fair
show. He had put fruit jar full Of
beans In the Office window, and every
one wanting to take a chance at the
widow was to pay quarter to guess
at the number of beans. Names would
be recorded. and at the end Of twenty
days the guessers would be introduced
In rotaton-the nearest guesser first
Of all. The guessing business. with
the hand Of widow at stake, was
something new in that locality. and it
caught on. Old bachelors, widowers
and young men came us far us thirty
miles to look at the jar Of beans and
record guess. Some put In as many
as ten guesses.
Meanwhile. as was the agreement,
the widow became recluse and was
not to be seen on the streets. She
was looked for, but was not to be
found. OF course all the guessers
heard Of. her LONELINESS, but they also
beard Of her property and were not
going to miss good thing by being
too particular. About the fifteenth
man who presented himself was a
humpbacked. bowlegged. broken nosed
widower. He was baldheaded, and he
was cock eyed. and nothing like him
had ever been seen In the town. The
editor looked upon him with Joy and
satisfaction. He found him eligible.
and for $40 hs told him the exact num-
Der Of beans In the Jar. The man then
put in ten guesses 90 40 to avoid sus'
picion. and on the day Of the counting
he OF course won ont There had been
{ fifty guessers and over 400 guesses
and this money had Jumped the Ban
ner into the front ranks Of Journalism
The widow was prepared to receive
Mr.. Mott, the successful guesser. Il
he failed then No. 2 would come along
hut he didn't fail. He was 3eered and
/. guyed az hs made his way to bel
{ house on the arm Of the editor. but b
was not .dtsmayed. The widow saw
him when yet block OF, sized hin
up, and. when he entered the houed
shc fell into bis arms. enchanting:
Thank heaveni I did not dream
there was such homeiy man in at
tho world!s
The editor ieft them and went ou'
to sit on the back STEPS. but WITHIN
ten minutes the widow came out VIII
Gears In her eyes and q roii Of noooeJ
IN her hand and said:
sThis hundred dollars belongs e
.But sou are not married get" he 10
.But you are to 60 for the preach
~ nj once. Such love as Mr.. Motifs
and mine takes no chances and brooks
+ no delay" Is
$3, And the Banner enlarged to nine
columns a page and got a new head
and arrnneed for q colored supplement
aud sporting department. and they
e,.ve reelected the editor to the may
n,,,lty Of Groptvilis over and ovef.