The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1910-04-21
GOOD
MR.. GOODENOUGEI
BY M QUAD.
Copyright. 1910, hy Associated Lit
erary Press

'Mornin', widderW
widow, If you pleaser she would
answer
Eyes. meant wilder. Horses and
cows ana sheep and pigs all welIY'
every well. thank you. Won't you
sit DOWN.
I'll guess So"
"widder. / don't believe there's go
ing to be any circus in Brownsville
this year"
mop
"And I shouldn't wonder If hog
cholera broke ont"
"No?"
"And i've got three hens a-settin'
and expect as many as twenty chicks"
"YesY
"And-and they say Pm courtsn'
you"
"Do they? Well. ] didn't know it"
"Neither did / but | s'pose it's so.
Well, I've got to be movin' along.
Glad I'VE seen you, wilder"
Widow, Mr. Goodenough.1
Eyes? allus cit 'em mixed"
When this sort Of courtshlp bad
been going on for several months Silas
determined on a desperate deed. He
rehearsed it for a week and then tied
his team TO the Widows hitching post
and walked around BY the kitchen path
to find her feeding the chickens. lie
lust gave her time TO nod and then
started IN with:
"Widder spieer I've been lovin' you
for years and years. and I want you
for a wife I'll be good to you. You
needn't make soft soap nor rag car
pets, and If they hold camp meetin'
anywhere within three miles Of Us
wen drive over and stay three days"
Fl couldn't think Of 1t. Mr.. Good.
enough was the reply
Don't care for me. ehf"
"Not enough to marry you"
II thought mebbe you did. but If you
don't might as well move on. Them
geese O. yours are lookin' remarkably
well for this time o year"
Yes
"Well. SO long. oh. say. wilder.
they shy that next year IS goin' to bel
a buster Of a year for grasshoppers.
Hope they won't eat Us up here"
silas Goodenough didn't drive home
10 commit suicide. He didn't even
think Of it. He simply thought the
Widow Spicer a bit odd that she didn't
jump at bis offer and after three days
he was all over IT Then came a
neighbor who said;
''SiIGs. | hear that you popped the
question to the Widow Spicer and got
thrown DOWN.
why yes. asked her II she'd have
me-"
"And she said no"
That's about It. Mebbe she didn't
mean it, but took It that way"
a guess you took it right enough.
She turned you down because Jim
Wheeler IS counting her. She's in love
with him. but / don't think be cares
much about her. II she had more
property he'd marry her, but as It ic |
/ think hes only fooIing"
$50 you think The wilder cares for
him" asked silas after a moments
thought.
"Ail the women folks say so.n
"And she'd be disappointed II be
didn't marry hersr
Naturally
'aThen Jim orter do II. Yes. be
orter The wtdder's a mighty nice wo-
man, and It would be too bad to make
fool Of her. I must see IL / can't do
somethin' for her
The nelghbor laughed and left him,
and Silas began to think. II he wasn't
good at counting he was very fair al
thinking If Jim Wheeler was holding
OF because the Widow Splcer wasn't
a catch financially. why, something
must be done. It took him just
fortnight TO figure out what that some
thing was TO be, and be brought 1t
home in bis wagon after drive Of
thirty miles. Az the back end of the
widows farm was rocky dell and
spring and rivulet When Silas Good
enough had made three midnight trips
to that dell, carrying jug OF crude
oil each time, the people for a mile
around began shifting the air. When
be had made three more they began
hunting for coal oil They found 1t
1t was floating from that spring and
oozing up through the rocks around
IT There was excitement at once.
The widow had scarcely received the
first offer for her farm when Jim
Wheeler proposed marriage and was
accepted. Then he had something to
say about the succeeding offers. And
after marriage be had all to say.
Men came and hooked and investigat-
ed and either shook their heads or
made cash offers, and Silas saw to 1t
that the supply Of OIL was kept up. The
day after the spicer farm had been
sold for $4,000 the same neighbor
who had interviewed Silas before
came sauntering over to say;
wen, silas, Jim's got the widow {
and $4,000 in cash"
"Glad to hear it7 replied the re-
jected.
"But she threw You down"