Connecticut western news., 1910-06-02
PLANNED BY
 A WIDOW By M. QUAD Copyright. 1910 by Associated Lit. erary Press.

cry udy Sne naQ mlSSeu MT. Hume well, and when night came and the wind moaned and the rain fell and the shingles blew off the roof she wept and wished it were all over
 At length Professor Doty arrived ip the village. Not only that. but he ar- rived next door. He was a professor of natural history in a college, and he came to the village for his vacation. He was man of sixty, tall and re- served and dignified. He gave every one feeling of awe. MT. Hunnewell, on the contrary, had been short and fat and jolly, and people used to poke him in the ribs and joke with him. It was probably the contrast that caused the widow to fall in love at first sight.
 She leaned over the fence and intro duced herself, and he approached and talked to her. He had found q tree toad hidden in the bark of locust tree, and he was glad to talk to some one about his find.
 While the professor lectured the wid- ow fell deeper in love and kept ex- claiming: "Do tell" and "Oh, my soulr' She was an interested listener. She said she'd give anything to learn all about toads and bugs and grasshoppers and clans. and the professor was a bit fiattered. If the woman next door had been a nice, loving woman she would have invited the widow over to make further acquaintance, but she was different person. She said that widows had too much rope as it was and that Mrs. Hunnewell was always out of tea and coffee when a neighbor wanted to borrow. And-the professor wasn't to be caught sight of so often either.
 However, when Providence gets its machinery once started there are gen. erally results. One night when the wind didn't moan and the shingles didn't rattle, but when it was moon light and calm instead, the widow was awakened from her sleep by a bad dream. She thought herself surround ed by potato bugs and fighting for her life. The dream made such an im- pression that she got out of bed and looked out of the window. There was the explanation before her eyes. The professor had climbed the fence and was in her yard and down on hands and knees in the grass. He had on so few clothes that it was easy to guess he had risen from his bed to look for crickets. Not a word did the widow say She just got into bed and did some thinking. That thinking resulted in her sending for the village constable next day and saying to him:
 ''Mr. Richards, if widow living all that her house was about to be broken into, what should she do?"
 You mean if she saw man dodg- ing around in the yard?"
 "Yes." .-,r.
 "Well, she might scream"
 "Yes.' t.e
 "Or she might throw something out of the window at him."
 "Yes."
 "Or she might take her life and her broomstick in hand and rush out and crack his skull"
 q see"
 But if I was that woman I'd bor- row a shotgun, load it with salt and fire on him from a window" And what would the salt do?"
 keep him in bed for about a week. If there is' anybody spooking around your house O nights I've got the gun and the salt, and you can protect your self. The law will be on your side. Aim at his legs and, let Ter go."
 The widow took couple of hours to think it over and then sent for the gun. She was taught how to fire it, and when the sun went down that evening she felt that events were go- ing to happen before morning. What Professor Doty was looking for the night before was crickets. Their songs had floated into his open window at midnight and awoke him. He had climbed the fence into the next yard without a thought of trespass. He had got down on hands and knees and paved around, but the crickets had evaded him. He would try again.
 If there had been any bells in the town they would have been striking Il o'clock when the waiting, watching widow heard some one softly drop from the fence, then come into sight crawling over the grass. rS She saw him grab with this hand and the other and heard him chuckle. Then she pointed the gun out of the window and shut her eyes and fired. There was whoop and a yell, and she rattled downstairs to find the professor lying on the grass. He had been salted. Nevermore would he be fresh again. Nevermore would he want any salt on his potatoes.
 Of course the plan was to rush him. into the house, call a doctor and keep him around for week as an invalid. There would be romance in the salt and gratitude for the soups prepared for him, and those things might lead on and on They didn't, however. The professor cussed; he swore; he wrig- gled; he said that any woman who would shoot a barrel of salt into an innocent man ought to be hanged, and as he made his way to the fence he