The Forrest City times., 1912-07-05

this life-ong custom into a cooked hat
 You cant mean-T
 But l do! Put on your hat and walk over there this afternoon and size him up. If you like the look, of him camp on his trail"
 Mercy, mani"
 Ask him for his heart and hand Why not? Tell him that you love him as no woman ever loved a man before. and that life will be a drearv desert without him. I got that off to the girl who Is now my wife. Nine men out of ten do. Why shouldn't it be turned about? If he don't re- turn your love-if he says that you are too late, and that his heart has been given to another, there's no great harm done. I got the knockout punch twice before I was made happy. Men never die of these things. and a woman won't. It Is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.'
 Put what will folks say-what will they say,' gasped Abigail, as the peddler arose to depart.
 But if you get a husband through it? Woman, rise to tho occasion. Give the world and your sex a new deal just as l did when I brought out the dishpan with two ears. People sa d the world was not ready for the chance. but we know it was. Ton
  find one-eared dishpan. Think it over. Gcod-day"
 It was not that afternoon, but the next, that Abigail Jones appeared at the Bascomb farm Farmer Thomas was working in the fields. and half an hour after her arrival he came to the house for a drink of water ard found her sitting on the steps. She introduced herself and said she was resting after a walk Mir. Thomas sat down beside her, and they chatted for half an hour. and he gathered her a bouquet when she departed. She intimated that she might call again. Why not? She liked the looks of MT. Thomas As she walked homeward she thought to herself that he would make very good hus- band.
 One day, week later, as Mr. Thomas was hoeing corn. Miss Apt gail made her appearance in the field. She had taken walk for the purpose of gathering materials for a dandelion tonic. Mr. Thomas hung up his hoe on the limb of crabapple tree and assisted her. and then they sat down and talked. She drew him out on this and that question. Men do the same thing with a woman. They want to know if she can sew and darn and patch and cut over. They want to know if she is a good cook and if she can cut carpet rags and put up pickled Qeaches.
 Miss Abigail found Farmer Thomas ap 10 her ideal. True, he had tov many whiskers, but little diplomacy and safety razor would fix that after marriage Perhaps one of the best things she drew from him in an hours talk was the assertion that he never had to have an alarm clock in the house to get up by. That showed ambition and industry. He was not the man to be snoring away while the hogs were squealing for their break fast
 The spinster didn't hustle things too fast. Many a man las lost a good wife by his impetuosity in court ing She had walked out to the Thomas farm at least ten times be- fore the crucial moment arrived. She had grown bolder and bolder with each visit. That is, she had come to realize more and more that she was only giving herself a square deal. And when the moment arrived she was ready for it. She walked out to the farm to find MT. Thomas mixing the dough for a loaf Of bread. He was making botch of t, and it gave her the courage to say:
 Ezekiel, you must know my feel ings towards you. I love you, and hope that I have inspired the same sentiment in your heart. If you wish to make me the happiest woman in the world say that you'll be mine"
 And Mir Thomas rubbed the wet dough of his fingers on the roller towel and put his arms around her and replied:
 I'll be hanged if I won't,"
 Talk? Of course there was talk, They said that Abigail camped on his trail; that she had run him down; that she had scared him into it. Oh, yes they talked and talked and talked and rolled up their eyes, but Abigail had a husband and MT. Thomas had a wife, and it was a happy marriage.