Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1912-05-16

this lifelong custom into a cooked
! hat"
"You can't mean"
But do! Put on your hat and
walk over there this afternoon and
size him up. If you like the lookJ
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 dreary
desert without him. got that off &c
the girl who is now my wife. Nine
men out of ten do Why shouldn't
It be turned about? II 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 was made happy.
Men never die of these things. and
woman won't. IL is better to have
loved and lost than never to have
| loved at ALL"
"Rut what will folks say-what will
they say," gasped Abigail, as the
| peddler arose to depart.
but If you get a husband through
1T? Woman. rise to the occasion.
Give the world and your sex a new
| deal Just as | did when | brought out
the dishpan with two ears People
said the world was not ready for the
| chance. but we know 1t was. You
| may travel for a year now and not
find a one-eared dishpan. Think It
over. Good-day."
1t 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 and
found her sitting on the steps. She
introduced herself and said she was
resting after a walk. Mr. 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 Mr.. Thomas. As she walked
homeward she thought to herself
that he would make o very good hus-
band.
One day, a week later, as Mr..
Thomas was hoeing corn. Miss abb
gail made her appearance in the field.
She had taken walk for the purpose
Of gathering materials for dandellon
tonic. Mr., Thomas hung up his hoe
on the limb of a crabepple 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 q good cook and If she
can cut carpet rags and put up picked
peaches.
Miss Abigail found Farmer Thomas
dp to her ideal True, he had tov
many whiskers. but little diplomacy
and a 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 man has 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 holder and holder with
each visit. That is she had come to
realize more and more that she was
only giving herself square deal. And
when the moment arrived she was
ready for it. She walked out to the
farm to find Mr. Thomas mixing the
dough for a loaf of bread. He was
making a botch of 1t, and it gave hei
the courage to say:
Ezekiel, you must know my feel
ings towards you. l love you, ant
hope that l have inspired the same
sentiment in your heart. If you wisl
to make me the happiest woman II
the world say that you'll be mine"
And Mr.. Thomas rubbed the we
, dough off his fingers on the role
towel and put his arms around he
and replied
"I'll be hanged if WON'T"
Talk? OF course there was talk
! They said that Abigail camped on hi
trail; that she had run him down
that she had scared him into it. oh
!, yes, they talked and talked and taIke
:. and rolled up their eyes. but Abigail
had a husband and Mr.. Thomas ha
, a wife, and it was a happy marriage