The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-09-13
AN EDITOR
AND A WIDOW
nx N. ouAp.

copyrighted. 1909, by Associated Literary
Preas.l
The editor Of the Weekly Granville
Banner was hard up. He was hard
up when he established the Banner,
six years before. and be had been hard
up every day since He was a middle
aged man, but haFd.upness had added
ten years to his age. He had been a
fat man while running a sawmili. but
the hard-upness Of newspaper life had
made a human toothpick OF him. On
this certain day. as he sat looking out
an editorial window, he bad to admit
that another month wouId see the sus-
pension Of the Banner and the end OF
the world unless the unexpected hap
pened
On this same fay and hour the
Widow Spicer, whose back yard touch
ed the Banner Office and was under
surveillance from some Of its windows,
sat down on the back doorstep with
her sewing. She was plain under the
editorial eve. In fact, be thought her
the homeiiest woman he ever saw. AN
the rest Or Granville thought the same
way. All visitors to the town were
a unit on this subject. AS a matter
Of fact, the widow was oorpulent,
cross eyed, wheezy, lop shouldered and
bad cast Ia her left eye.
For half an hour the editor surveyed
her, and she looked up occasionally and
knew that be was doing so, and then
bright thought flashed to his brain.
He Rugged 1t there for ten minutes
and then dropped out Of the window
without hat or coat and approached
her. They bad long known each other.
He knew that she was homely, and
she knew he was hard up. AS she
looked up and nodded be took a seat
beside her. cIasped bis hands around
one OF bis knees and began:
Widow spicer, every widow ought
to marry again"
n agree with you" she promptly re-
piled
"And every editor ought to have
money"
HE surely had, Afr. Poor"
Wen, our talk is strictly confden-
tial, For 500 In cash the Banner viii
get you q husband, and you needn't
pay cent until after the ceremony
She said good deal, and be said a
good deal, and as a result the next Is
sue of the Banner contained the an
nouncement that she was engaged to
rich man in Boston and would soon be
married and leave Granville. The
second issue denied the lnst A rich
relative Of the widows had died, and
She would remaiR right ia 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 surprise on the
next The editor made good. He had
prevailed upon the widow, he said. not
to throw herself away upon the first
millionaire that came along, but to
give all eligible candidates a 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 rotation-the nearest guesser first
Of all. The guessing business, with |
the hand OF a widow at stake, was
something new In that locality, and it
caught on. Old bachelors. widowers
and young men came as far as 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 a 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 Z
heard Of her homeliness, but they also
heard OF her property and were not 1
going to miss a good thing BY being I
too particular About the fifteenth !
man who presented himself was a
bowleeged. broken nosed /
He was baldheaded, and he
was cock eyed. and nothing like him
had ever been seen III che town. The
editor looked upon him with JOY and
he found him eligible.
and for $40 be told him the exact num-
Der Of beans In the jar The man then
aut IL ten guesses so IS ia avoid SUI