The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1910-08-12
THE
SINTI WIDOW
By NJ QUAD
copyrieht. 1910. by Associated Lit
erary Press.

There were five widows In the vii.
agr Of Glen Read when the sixth ar
rived Her name was Tomplxins.
There was one widower in Glen
Head to Offset the five widows. He
was Thomas Jordon.
The good natured Tom Jordon helped
10 unload her furniture and wrestle
che bedsteads and bureaus around. He
bought lime and a whitewash brush
and hired a boy to whitewash the cell
lar He took hoe himself and cut
down the weeds in the front yard.
The Widow Tompkins was thankful
and arable, but she held Mr.. Jordon at
a distance. He had been told all about
the husbands Of the other Widows
when they died. how they died and
their very last words. He knew the
financial resources OF the house to
cent. He even knew that one of the
widows had sore heel and that two
Others had corns. In his fatherly way
be questioned the sixth widow, but he
was turned down at every point. Baf-
fed curiosity kept him thinking of her.
The more he thought of her the more
he wondered IL Providence hadn't sent
Mrs. Tompkins along to become Mrs.
Jordon. In a month or so he decided
that it was so. See how easy it was!
See how those five widows had neg
lected logic for years and years.
The Widow Tompkins sized Mr.. Jor-
don up for fatherly man and a good
fellow, but logic came In here again.
Fatherly men and good fellows are
slower than molasses in January about
getting around to propose marriage il
things are left to their natural course.
The Eve other widows hadn't figured
this out. An event must happen. Prov
idence was right around there to help
1t to happen.
At the end Of three months the fa-
therly man was quite at home in the
house of the sixth widow-1ust neigh
borIy. you know; just dropped in to
say If she wanted the Kitchen door
painted or the ceiling whitewashed
he'd see about 1t for her. On this par
ticular day we have in mind he was
III want of a couple Of empty barrels.
1t struck him that he had seen three
or four in the widows cellar when the
whitewashing was doing. He found
the kitchen door open and walked in.
He found no one in the house. and he
walked down the cellar-only neigh
borIy. you know: just neIghborly. He
had found his barrels when he heard
the door shut on him and the lock
click. He climbed the stairs and
pounded on the. door and called out
his name and e-aand, and voice an
swered him. l7'a s1a
sAh. you tramp, I've got you un-
der lock and hey and AZ going for
the constabIeP'
Mrs. Tompkins. this is no tramp
This is Mr.. Jordon."
"You can't lie to me, sir Mr.. Jordon
doesn't walk into folks houses and
down cellar"
But / did was looking for
barrels"
"WelI. you can keep on looking until
the constable comesp
He sought to further explain, but
she ridiculed the idea. The fact that a
tramp had robbed a house in the vii
lage a few days previously gave her
a good groundwork to build on. The
most she would promise was to leave
him down there until he had under
gone an entire change of heart and
was prepared to live an upright life in
the future. It was o'clock when Mr..
Jordon found himself prisoner He
sat on the cellar stairs for the next
two hours vainly trying to convinces
the woman upstairs that he was no
tramp. He gave his name over and
over again. but the steady reply was:
"You are simply trying to initiate
Mr.. Jordon's voice. but you can't i'm
pose on me- | think | will call him
in and let him settle with you"
From 3 TO 4 o'clock Mr.. Jordon pa
trolled the cellar. He had cobwebs
and whitewash and old barrels for
company. He could have called from
one Of the narrow windows to pass
erby, but he didn't care to. He didn't
want to be laughed at. From 4 to g
he sat on the stairs. giving his name
over and over again and taking his
solemn affidavit that be was Thomas
Jordon and no Weary William. His
words brought no response from the
other side Of the door. From 8 to Z
he sat at the bottom OF the steps and
saw the cleaning enter the windows
and heard the whIppoorwills tune up.
Then a rap on the door above called
him up to hear the words:
q am now going for Mr. Jordon."
"But am Mr. Jortlon."
"Your voice does sound bit like
his, but you can't deceive me. Mr..
Jordon is a fine man."
"But so am /.
"Mr. Jordon thinks I. am a fne wO-
man,
$50 do T."
II believe Afr. Jordon intends to ask 1
me to marry him."