Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-11-11
TheEyening Story
SPEAKIN' OF
WIDDERS
By N. QUAD
Copyright. 1919. by Associated Lit
erary Press.

Josiah" said Deacon Trueman az
they sat down in the bayfield, to take n
rest and drink from the water jug,
cit is being talked around that you are
sparkling the Wilder Silncoe. 1t huln't
none o my business. hut sou know I'm
living with my fourth wife and hdve
nacherally had come experience with
the sex.
"A wider woman il a wife whose
husband has died and left her free to
play the devil with men for ten miles
around.
"yes. in my counting around court
ed widder women rs well as the other
kind. thought 1t might be jest ~
well to 6nd a wilder with farm and
plenty Of live stock 40 to take a wo-
mum with nothing but what she stood
In. found that widder. There was a
hundred acres OF land. a good house
and barn. and the horses. cattle. sheep
and hogs made my mouth water.
Il didn't let on that I'd come court
Ing. was ii the tombstone business
then. and told her Ia called to sec
about a~stone for her husband. ! de.
scribed the one I'd put up for my wife.
and then we got to telling each other
how lonesome we was. and both agreed
we'd never marry ag'in.
That's where we both lied and knew
we were lying.
THAT wilder woman dra wed rue on
in fifty different ways, but mostly BY
tears when she spoke Of the departed.
| never saw tears in her eyes that l
didn't want to put my arm around her
waist and wipe them away. She said
that man was an oak tree and woman
only willer and that 1t was natural
for the willer to want to lean agin the
oak.
"One day I decided to settle things.
drove over. and she, had the same
smile for me until l began to talk
business. Then she said she guessed
Id made mistake In the house. and
limited that I'd better drive on for a
mile and half.
what dye s'pose she had done
while appearing to be as innocent and
childish as spring chicken? Got
Teller to look up my property and
found that I was under mortgage. and
she let go as If had been a hot later.
Yes. she did. and all the time she was
telling me that If she ever did marry
agrn she didn't care how poor the man
was II he only Ind manly heart In
his manly bosom. meaning me. If I'd
been counting long nun to be head
over heels IN love I'd have come home
to hang myself in the barn.
"A wilder woman don't hit fair
from the shoulders.
"You don't know when to believe her
and when not to.
when you think you've got her she's
somewhere else When you begin to
fatter yourself that you've got all the
other fellers on the run, she's working
her cards to ring in new bunch.
"Onc experience with a wilder
woman wasn't nun for me. It's Jest
like when you git bowed up with
powder. You know you've been blowed,
but yet you banker to go back to the
spot and look around, for the frag-
ments. was buying hay that sum-
mer. and called on another wilder
to see If she'd sell me Ave tons.
"She wasn't Eve minutes finding out
that was widower.
"As she knew that ia quit the tomb.
stone business and she would be safe,
she begun to talk about her dead and
gone Moses. He had split her life. He
was dead. and she didn't want to talk
ag'in him. but she had to say that he
was pesky mean man. When she
married ag'in she hoped to marry her
equal and a man who loved her for
herself alone.
g" went away from that house so
illustrated that forgot all about the
hay. Id have bet steers to calves
that the wilder was gone on me at
FIRST sight.
"Of course I went back ag'in. Had
to zee about the hay. No hay for sale.
but we sat down on the shady veranda
and talked and when we got through
talking l was asked to call ag'ln.
ut haint no use In denying that l
thought l had struck good thing.
There was good farm and q nice
wilder woman that could do a Mon
day washing and ironing and be ready
to bake bread on Tuesday. I used to
sit and hold that widder's hand In the
moonlight and hear the whippoorwills
sing and feel jest as II could melt
away like butter In July. She kept
drawing me on. and should have
popped the question within two months
II she hadn't stopped me ut the crit.
teal moment. She seemed to read my
thoughts. and she'd bring me mp short
before could get the word out.
Then. al In the other case. went
over one day to lay my manly heart
at her feet She caught me up before
could iny It BY shedding tears and
| telling me that she must raise 500
| a,n - a. 49, q