The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1909-09-11
AN EDITOR
AND A WIDOW
Ry M. QUAD.

six years before. aud he had been hard
up every day since. lie was Il middle
aged man. but hartl-upneSS had added
ten years to his ace. lie had been a
fat man while running Il s;;Wmill. but
the hard-uDu4sS of newspaper life haa
made /; human toothpick of him. On
this certain day. as he sat locking out |
an editorial window, he had to admit |
that another month would see the sus- |
pension of the Banner ard the end of |
the world unless the unexpected hap |
pened.
On this same day and hour the
Widow Spfcer, whose back yard touch
ed the Banner office and was under
surveillance from some Of its windows
sat down Oh 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
a unit on this subject. As. matter
of fact. the widow was corpulent,
cross eyed, wheezy. lop shouldered and
IIu Il CAST Ill Her lGlt
Fer half an hour the editor surveyed
1 her. ard she looked up occasionally and
/ knew that he was doing SO, and then
| a bright thought flashed to his brain.
| He Rugged it there for ten minutes
and then dropped out of the window
without hat or coat and approached
her They had long known each other.
He knew that she was homely, and
she knew he was hard up As she
looked up and nodded he took q seat
beside her. clasped his hands around
one of his knees and began:
widow Spicer, every widow ought
to marry again
81 agree with you.' she promptly re-
piled.
And every editor ought to have
money"
He surely had. Mr.. Poor"
We'll, our talk is strictly confiden-
tai. For 500 in cash the Banner will
get you a husband. and you needn't
pay cent uatl after the ceremony"
She said good deal, and he said a
good deal, and as a result the next is
sue of the Banner contained the an
ncureement that she was engaged to a
rich man Id Boston and would soon be
married and leave Granville. The
second issue denied the first. A rich
relative of the widows had died, and
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, 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 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 frs
of all. The guessing business, witt
6 the hand of widow at stake, was
r something new in that locality, and i
q caught on. Old bachelors, widower:
: and young men came as far as thirt!
:. miles to look at the jar of beans ant
a record a guess. Some put in as many
4 as ten guesSes.
/ Meanwhile. as was the agreement
!. the widow became recluse and wa
!, not to be seen on the streets. Sht
~ 70
: found. OF course all the guesser
: heard OF her homeliness, but they ais
!. heard of her property and were no
i going to miss a good thing by beins
! too particular. About the fifteenth
+ man who presented himself was
s humpbacked, bowlegged. broken noses
! widower. He was baldheaded, and h
e was cock eyed, and nothing like bin
o mad ever been seen in the town. TIL
# editor looked upon him with joy AM
. satisfaction. He found him eligible
n and for $40 he told him the exact nun
r Der of beans in the jar. The man the
; put in ten guesses so as to avoid sus
picion. and on the day of the countin
q he of course won out There had bee
o HIIY RlGSSCIS ONCl KOO 6dO4soS-
b and this money had jumped the Ban
= ner into the front ranks Of Journalism
j. The widow was prepared to receiy
. Mr.. Mott, the successful guesser.
e he failed then No. 2 would come alont
ie But lie didn't fail. He was jeered an
IS guyed as he made his way to he
+ house on the arm of the editor. but b
was not dismayed. The widow sa'
,e him when get block off, sized hil
lie up. and when he entered the hous
d, she fell into his arms, exclaining:
n sThank heaven. / did not dreal
X there was such a homely man in a
a the world.7
If The editor left them and Went Of
d, to sit on the back steps, but With
It. ten minutes the widow came out wit
1T tears in her eyes and a roll of none
lg in her hand and said:
is This hundred dollars belongs
Is YOU
at But you are not married get" he r
N piled.