The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-02-06
TIE EVENING STORY
Going to Kansas.
(By Donald Allen. }

: IA
heels and made three circuits of the
barn II any one had suggested such a
thing to HIM
Although the widow had no thought
OF husband number two, and although
the bachelor had no thought of wife
number one. they had to be neighbors.
They had to borrow and lend. They
had to talk about crops They had to
do errandS for each other at the vii
LACE Mr.. Griggs couldn't cross the road
| to borrow the widows hoe without
| blushing and stammering about it, and
| the widow couldn't cross to borrow a
! little baking powder without feeling
| that she might be charged with run
ming after" the bachelor. 1t made
things embarrassing. Now and then,
after his evening chores We're done,
Henry would sneak over and sit with
/ the widow on her porch, but when he
tried to talk he choked up.
One day a tin peddler who had
picked up little gossip here and there,
stopped to buy sheepskin from Henry
and to say:
Mice widow woman, Mrs. Lee is ?"
| ''Migh-mighty NIGEL" was stammer-
ed in reply.
'sWhy don't you marry her?''
Lands aliVel''
IT would make a good match
But you see
Il think she'd have you"
'Don't-don't TALK" begged Henry
as the sweat started on his forehead
shes awfully nice, but
The peddIer laughed and drove on.
He had heard that there were such
cases, but they all came right in the
end.
Was it what the peddler said that
made bachelor George suddenly re-
alize that he was in love with the
widow? 1t wasn't as sudden as fall
Ing off a fence 1t took about an hour
for the realization, and then it was
a feeling that had come to stay. Mr..
GriggS bIushed as he owned it to
himself, and how on earth he was ever
to face the widow again drove his
bushes away and left his cheeks as
pale as bleached celery.
Was it the reflex of the bachelors
feelings that made the widow pause
one morning with the dishcloth in her
hand and confess to herslf that she
liked Henry-aye, more than liked
On the evening of that day, as the
couple sat on the piazza and saw the
hens go to roost and the peacock seek
his couch, Mrs Lee broke d long sill
Mr. Griggs, I'm thinking of NOV
ing to Kansas.
by gum!'' exclaimed Henry as he
almost fell down three steps.
Land is cheaper and richer there"
Henry made a choking noise in his
throat.
"And-and there are fewer widows"
"I=I-wou1dn't go step if L was
you'll the bachelor blurted out
well, We'll see about it. How is
your oats coming out ~
Just enough and no morei Just
enough to give Henry pains and aches
and swimming of the head, but not
enough to make him go out and hang
himself to the limb of a sour apple
tree 1t was a long, bad night for
him. He fully realized that Kansas was
a drawing card and that he ought
to walk into the other farmhouse be-
fore milking his cows in the morning
and offer the woman inducements to
STAY but yet he shook at the idea.
IL n with looking
him full in the eyes? Even If she turn
ed her back and hid her face in the
roller towel he might break down be-
fore she knew what he was talking
When day came it proved to be the
longest in Henry Griggs life. There
was lots of work to be done. but he
Law for hours under the strawstack
and planned and thought and wonder
ed. When he crossed the road again
at sunlight the widow was waiting to
say; - -,
more I like the idea
Henry turned pale and slapped at a
you get two crops of some things in
a season, and the winters are not as cold
as here"
wolves and rattlesnakes out thereY'
whispered Henry
Eyes, I suppose they have, but what's
a poor widow to dor
reach for the woman's hand and an
nounce that he not the black-hearted |
villain to see the likes of her driven out
among the beasts and serpents for the !
lack of a devoted husband but he failed |
to take advantage OF 1t. He blushed ana
mumbled, and 1t was only when the /
widow said she believed that clear white |
hens laid more eggs than speckled ones |
that his heart went back to normal
Next morning at breakfast his sister |
looked at him for a long minute and then |
said
Got cold, l guess" he replied, trying |
hard to fetch a cough.
It's worse than that You're bound for |
the gravel"
YOU'D better see a doctor at once.
Whatever ails you, you mustn't let 1t ger
too long start. Mebbe sulphur and mo- |
Here was another golden opportunity. |
The sister was an old maid who had /
given up all hope of marrying. but she I
the brothers doing So. Had he told her /
that he was in love with the widow Lee |
she would have advised him to walk |
right over there and say So but Henry |
sat there and shivered and trembled and |
That day he spent in the potato field, |
but mostly lying in the shade. Twenty /
time he determined to tell his love, and |
twenty times his courage failed him. |
That night he did not make his usual 1
call, and next morning when he went to |
feed the hogs his head swan so that he |
fell down. The sister saw it and ex- {
claimed: |
ing ails youl We are going to have a l
doctor here as soon as we can get onei' |
And then that same tin peddler came |
about paper rags, butter, eggs, old cop
per and whatever else could be sold in the |
market. On being told about Henry he |
sat down beside him and felt his pulse