The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-01-13
AN EDITOR
AND A WIDOW
BY M. QUAD.

copyrighted, 1909, by Associated Literary
Press.l
The editor Of the Weekly Granville
Banner was hard up. He was hard
up when he established the Banner,
six years before, and he had been hard
up every day since. He was middle
aged man, but hard-upness had added
ten years to his age. He had been
fat man while running a sawmill, but
the hard-upness Of newspaper life had
made human toothpick of him. On
this certain day, as he sat looking out
an editorial window, he had to admit |
that another month would see the sus-
pension of the Banner and the end of |
the world unless the unexpected hap.
pened.
On this same day 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 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 Il matter
Of fact, the widow was corpulent,
cross eyed. wheezy, lop shouldered and
had cast in her left eye.
I For half an hour the editor surveyed
| her. and 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 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"
well, our talk is strictly confden-
tiai For $500 in cash the Banner will
get you husband, and you needn't
pay {; cent until after the ceremony"
She said 4 good DEAL and he said a
good deal, and as a result the next is
| sue of the Banner contained the an
3 nouncement that she was engaged to q
S rich man in Boston and would soon be
l married and leave Granville. The
I second issue denied the first. A rich
I relative of the Widows had died, and
: she would remain right in Granville
: until she had found the man Of her
v choice. The third issue stated that
r she had turned down seven offers that
f week and that the readers of the Ban
: ner would hear Of surprise on the
S next. The editor made good. He had
n prevailed upon the widow, he said, not
e to throw herself away upon the first
millionaire that came along, but tc
= give all eligible candidates fail
! show. He had put a fruit jar full OF
: beans in the Office window, and every
g one wanting to take a chance at the
F. widow was to pay a quarter to guess
|. at the number Of beans. Names would
e be recorded. and at the end Of twenty
q days the guessers would be introduced
u in rotation-the nearest guesser frs
: of all. The guessing business. will
-. - the hand of a widow at stake, wa:
q something new in that locality, and i
n caught on. Old bachelors, widower!
), and young men came as far as thirty
e miles to look at the jar of beans ant
r record a guess. Some put in as man.
e as ten guesses.
Meanwhile. as was the agreement
d the widow became a recluse and wa
y not to be seen on the streets. Sh
- was looked for. but was not to b.
"a found. OF course all the guesser
is heard of her LONELINESS, but they ais
is heard of her property and were no
r going to miss a good thing by bein:
too particular. About the fifteenth
man who presented himself was
!, humpbacked, bowlegged. broken noset
- widower. He was baldheaded, and b
was cock eyed, and nothing like hin
mad ever been seen in the town. Th
n n. editor looked upon him with joy ant
AZ, at satisfaction. He found him eligible
nd and for $40 lie told him the exact mum
lie. Der Of Leans in the jar The man the
al put in ten guesses so as to avoid sus
j picion. and on the day of the countin
al he of course won out. There had bee
on on fifty guessers and over 400 guesses
ey and this money had jumped the Ban
s. ner into the front ranks Of Journalism
The widow was prepared to receiv
Mr.. Mott. the successful guesser. ]