Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1909-1915, 1910-07-29
The Broken Leg
By NJ QUAD
Copyright. 1910, by Associated Lit
erary Press. J i 4 <

skirts OF the village Of Fowlerville,
and next to her little farm on the west
lived Joe Tillman, q bashful man.
One evening he found her sister
there. 1t was an evening in summer,
and he had it all planned out to ask
the widow how her tomatoes were
coming along-if the potato bugs had
appeared in the garden, if the summer
squashes had begun to get necks on
them, and various other things-and
then all of sudden he would ask
her to marry him. 1t must be sudden
or not at all.
The bashfulr Joe had been planning
this plan for week, but it was all
upset by finding the sister there. Such
was his embarrassment that he asked
Mrs. Spicer to lend him hive Of bees
instead Of a hammer, and he had hard
ly got into the house when he wanted
to get out again. After he had taken
his departure the elder widow said to
the younger:
Sarah, how long has this thing
been going on?'
What thing?" she replied, with a
guilty blush.
This nonsense and waste of time.
That fellow is in love with you, and
dog with one eye could see, it."
IF he is he hasn't said So"
"Then it's your fault. You are as
red as paint, and you needn't deny
that you think a lot of him. Don't
try to deceive woman who has had
three husbands. What l want to
know is why you haven't married
him?''
Because I'm not going to marry
again"
"Hoot-toot! Don't talk foolishness."
swell. then, Joe Is bashful man
and hasn't asked me-"
THAT'S better. There are some men
born that way. l shall make it my
business to cure this old BACH"
Martha, if you interfere
II shall stay right here until he pops
the question. No widow under forty
has any business to be widow over
year. If wasn't f1fty-two I'd be mar
ried within six months"
you'd rope in man the same as q
calf suppose?" asked Mrs. Spfcer
sarcastically. But l forbid you to
NEEDLE with my affairs. like Joe
Tillman, but even IL he was to ask me
to marry him don't think I'd do tt
that is, can't say that would"
"Oh, well. We'll see about it." said
the elder sister. and there the CONVEX
sation' dropped: .; = ~
In making his visits to the widow
Joe did not come by the highway rum
ming past both houses. Instead of that
he cut across lots and approached her
house from the rear. He had two
fences to climb, and he always sat on
the last fence for time to get his
courage up: Sister Martha, without
pretending to see anything, noted this
thing and planned accordingly. She
planned for a jar. She was very
practical woman, and one day when
her sister had gone to the store she
hunted up a handsaw, and, removing
the top rail, she sawed it almost in
two and replaced it. 1t was just at
the spot where Joe climbed over. 1t
might work, and 1t might not. She
would take her chances On that.
That evening. as the sun went down
and the cleaning came on and the
birds twittered their last notes and
the skeeters began roaming for prey,
Joe Tillman might have been observed
making sneak across the fields. He
hadn't visited the widow for three
nights, being in terror of her sister.
He had stood it as long as he could
and was now coming to borrow her
barn or smokehouse or front fence.
The two widows sat on the veranda
and waited. One waited to see"if Joe
would come, and the other waited for
the jar that had been planned for.
Joe and the jar arrived together. If
his heart hadn't been beating so tu-
multuously as he laid hands on that
top rail he would have noticed some
thing wrong. but as it was he climbed
up, and took his seat and had scarcely
begun his hitching around when there
was crash and he went backward
head over heels. ; '}e.e
A crash was heard on the veranda,
and both widows uttered exclamat tons
and rose up. Both reasoned It ont that
it was Joe Tillman. Both ran for the
fence. Yes, it was Joe. He lay In a
heap on the far side Of the fence, a
leg doubled under him, and the wo-
men had to take down a lot Of the
rails to get over and at him. At
the first groan he gave they knew his
leg was broken. At the second they
ran for a mattress and carried him
into the house. The hired man was
hunted up in the barnyard and dis
patched for a doctor. and long enough
before midnight the broken limb had
been set and the patient was doing
well. Indeed, he was doing so well
that the Widow Spicer came out Of
the spare bedroom with blushing
cheeks and said to her sister: i III \ \
Martha. what do you think has
happened?" -.s., . is Y *. !.
.sHasn't broken the other leg floun-
Gering around, has he?" -. ss:5
5HJOe has asked me to marry himp' Z?