Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1909-1915, 1909-12-03
4 1 HAPPY 4. | OLD MAID.

4 4 H h. 4 7 OLD MAIL,
1 ! s-45.s- BY M. QUAD.
copyright, 1909, by Associated Literary
/, ss|ss Press.I e Z, n, If SS.s fs3ss;
There was no doubt that Martha
Baker. thirty years old and unmarried
and the housekeeper for her widoWer,
brother, was homely. She admitted
that she was, and I'm telling you that
q woman, old or young, black OF white,
has got to be at the jumping OF place
before she will admit that, Yes; she
was homely and ungainly, and the $fu-
ture held no hopes for her. If she had
!: had the money to buy paints and pow
ders and false hair and fine hats and
good clothes she could have concealed
much Of the homely and ungainly, but
she didn't have, you see. Some pitied
her, and some made fun of her; and
she bore it with such philosophy de
she could summon up. Her brother
Bill needed her services until he could
bring home second wife, and yet
that same brother Bill seemed to take
pains to say. to her dozen times a
day: .55 S<,.>- 4 ~ .z.
Z martha Baker. I believe yon are
the homeliest woman in the state. By
john but you'd make a crab apple
tree look sick ~ 1T :. 3.. s:S T.
well, If anybody's to blame its the
Lord" Martha would reply as she dis
missed the matter from her mind.
Sometimes still. small voice would
Say to her that her$time would come,
but she had waited SO long that the
voice ceased to cheer her. When
woman has worn the same hat all the
year round for nine long years, with
only changing ribbons from Sred Ito
blue, she loses hope and can't Il be
blamed for it. That hat of hers was
the guy Of fhe village. II: never APP
peared on the street without causing
smiles.san it never appeared in church
without prov king filters that the5min,
lister could not suppress s. s: :3ssss;;
6 However, that still. small voice. Kept
on coming. and one day II turned up
trumps for Martha Baker. SheSha
once been extra kind to an old woman,
and that old woman was kind enough
to die and leave her a hundred dollars
/ IN cash, The lawyer came for her sig
nature and brought the greenbacks.
Martha had never had even So at a
time in her life before. i; There were
people in the village who were fairly
! well of. butte have a hundred dollars
in cold cash put into ones hand all
at once by, It; looked like the Monte
&Cristo business. The news: went all
over the place in an hour. Children
stood at: the gate with open mouths,
and their mot hers went fin to count the
money and to tender advice. There
I was advice as to robbers, investments,
speculations and what not Each had
| different: advice TO give, and Martha
was kind enough to listen to each call
It was wonderful how her stock
came up. started: at zero and went
TO Kin ay.sSx s. he was the 4 1t. No
One else was talked about he grocer
who tiled to- sway pu Bile MON by.
81 lduS Liz SOut!Si ~ OiST Two EfodTS uES
I Soap For Cent d idn't make two
sales. The minister came with. home
hints. They We're not about her hat
this time. They were, about repaint-s
ing the church. new pew cushions and
the heathen IN Africa instead: ,sst
w hat i was M artha Baker going to-
do with her wind fail q became the
absorbing topic of the day and night. 4.
ES It has been said hat she had worm
the same hat for nine years. Do you:
believe that she. had done SO without
its ranking in her soul Indeed, she
had got the idea that 1t was the old:
hats fault t that she was called homely5
and ungain1y nj ore had been said.
against the hat than against nature
and her conclusion was a feminine IL
not Eas logical one: s; zsS
Very well. She would discard the
hat at last and replace It with a new
one. She would do even better than
that She would make certain high
headed women and girls in that town
look dizzy artha was four weeks.
Ia coming to this conclusio lon, and then.
she didn' take even brother Bill into.
gEs