The Cairo bulletin., 1911-08-16
THE
COMPROMISE
By Nj, QUAD
BY M. QUAD
Copyright. 1911. by Associated Tit
erary Press

| Stream II seemed 10 her that NE peu-
pie thereof greeted her in IN o.lish
| manner.
All villages have their customs The
custom In Valley Stream aud one that
had prevailed for Il quarter OF cen,
| tury, was for newcomer 10 at once
| state certain facts to Deacon Horner.
| If 1t was "A widow she was expected
| to state her age, her income her inten.
| tions regarding second marriage.
! whether or not her late husband died
happy. to what church she belonged.
| her attitude IN regard 10 church az.
| fairs and picnics. If She attended the
=, circus and whether she was going to
! live extravaEantly or economically
| The deacon had always taken it upon
| himself 10 act as inquisltor aud then
! go from house to house and spread HE
/ news. He gave the Widow Sharon
| three days TO get settled and then
called,
| Then aud there the good man re-
| ceived The surprise OF his life lie had
carcely propounded question No |
when the widow replied.
"Sir. 1t IS none Of Your business"
| Deacon Ilorncr had never been
| baked before. and ii ypxrd him
The widow had brOn-lH four hogs
| with her, having been farmers wife.
and two days after the dracon'S call
one of those hogs came and rubbed
against his front gate.
| Deacon Horner lifted up n rock and
batted that hog The hog was hurt
ant, ran away squraling 4 toy tod The
| Widow sharon of it. and She put on
her hat and went straight to n Justice
Of the peace and got out summons
for malicious cruelty TO animals
| There was u state law Gov ring the
case, and the deacon was fined $40 and
costs.
1t may be remarked again that Dea
con Horner was n good mun. nut there
Is Il limit to goodness Not tina, same
hog, but another OF the widow llucG.
got into the deacon'S COW tot. There
was nothing for him to damage, but
the widow was sued for treslasS and
had to pay $3 damages She paid 1t
and waited If you will wait Tong
enough "A COW will get into your garden
and devour your cabbagcS. In this in
stance it was the deacOu'S COW, and
there was another suit for treSpaSS.
and the deacon was mulcted Did he
forgive the widow and promise that
his COW should be good In FUTURE He
didn't. He said to himself that he
would bring that defiant widow low
All of a sudden the village OF Valley
Stream began asking about the last
hours of the defuuct Farmer sharon.
1t was said that he dl,d ut heart dis.
ease after quarrel with his wife
about another man. Perhaps the wild
ow was not actually murdercSs. but
she was very close to it. She beard
the story. and she set out with an iron
Jaw on her 10 ran it down In TWEEN
ty.four hours she had il fastened on
the good deacon aud had begun u suit
not to care. but when his lawyer came
to investigate he was more than will
ing to settle for 500 MIR. sharon
had not died from heart disease, but
from the Kick OF q horse
Then the fighting widow had to 80
and put her foot N it. In some way
she learned that Deacon Horner hadn't
paid his pew rent for fourteen years
and that lie had passed II bad two dol
lar bill on n windmill man She was
indIscreet enough to repeat this, and
the first thing she knew the deacon
was after her AS matter of fact,
his pew rent was all paid up, and be
had the receipts to show. And as for
the bad bill, II was a windmill man
who had stuck him The widow had to
give back that 500 TO settle the case.
BY this time there wasn't a family in
the village nor for FIVE miles around
that wasn't taking sides, and society
was upset aud the churches suffering
Would be mediators had been to the
deacon aud his reply was:
I'm sorry there is any trouble, but
! can't let 10 widow run over me-"
And when they had gone TO the
widow. she said:
IF you think am going to let any
old widower boss me around you are
sadly mistaken"
Both sides were waiting for the next
ypnvo yphon rho riltara roo yicitod IA.
a pedder Of rat and mouse traps. He
had whole wagon load AS he passed
from house 10 house he heard of the
quarrel, and when he had got to the
Widow ShHronS and sold Der two
traps. he sat down and said:
I'm going to stop this rumpus be
tween you and Deacon Homer II
isn't right and it isn't nice You and
he ought to marry
"W.h-a-tT
And the rat trap man called on the |
deacon and said;
drop it! You are hurting yourself |
your church and the town. Court the
widow and marry her"
What"
A seed had been planted, and It |
wasn't four weeks before II spruuted |
After their first establishment was
over the deacon began TO speak well
OF her. and when he finally made an
excuse to call at the house. he was
pleasantly received Within the year
fhprp pag n marriapn