Metropolis weekly gazette. (Metropolis, Ill.) 1???-19??, 1914-12-04
GETTING OUT OF IT
Being the Story Of the Courtship
of a Widow and Deacon.
BY DON LA GRANGE.

per Syndlcate.l
deacon Strothers and his VIE
were eating supper when she said 10
him across the table:
Moses, IL should die, would you
marry again."
ssBless me, but what a question:
he replied as he choked.
..But | should like to know.
at amt likely that | would"
"You believe I'll go to heaven when
l die. don't your
astraight as a crow flies"
And how'd | feel lookin' down
from heaven and seem you arouno
with another wife!"
But the angels In heaven can
hook down on earth
at ia said they cant. but how does
ANYBODY know they can't?'
.sThese are nice mashed ta'eIs'
said the deacon as he helped nlni-
self to some more.
His wife was Christian woman
and a church member, but nevertne-
less there were time when she want
cd To know. you know, and he founo
:. eafar 10 choke her of than to
argue with her. He was hoping ne
had in this case when she said:
yes, I'VE got knack OF masnin
taters. and you'll miss me when I'm
gone. How about my question'
Moses?"
you'll probably outlive me by ten
years"
81 probably won't and I want 10
know II you will marry again!
mo. sir. I shouldn't"
The deacon was vexed with ner
persistency, and he brought out MS
answer with an emphasis.
"AT right" said the wife and be-
gan talking something else.
Next day she and another woman
were drowned by the upsetting OF
heat on the river. The deacon, VINO
was over fifty, was overwhelmed ior
= time. but gradually his grief wore
away and he was like himself again.
It is not contended that he was an
absent-minded man, but II is stateu'
and It Is quite reasonable, that after
the first month the deacon did not
think of that promise again for four
wears. Then 1t came like a Knockout
blow. Bit by bit he had come to be
friends with the widow Stevens. lie
had sat on her doorstep; he had sat
nv her fire: he had hoed in her gar
den: he hal split wood for her cook
stove. Aye, he had called her Saran'
and she had called him Moses. One
evening he had had a talk with him.
self beginning with:
aBy the great horn spoon, but that
wilder can make a custard mt Tor
king"
And then: Deacon, you have been
a widower for four years--for four
long years. You have been sad ana
lonely. 1t has come mighty hard.
And again:
"There's folks winkin' and blinkin'
around and sayin' that me and the
wilder will make a match of 1t, but
let EN- wink and blink. 1t hain't none
of their pesky business. and / have
told 'em So"
Then, with a chuckle:
ct wouldn't be a bad match for
either one of US. Home is where the
husband and wife is, and we've
neither one of us got home 'cordin'
to that. wonder IL / had better
hint around?"
Three minutes elapsed and then the
deacon brought his first down and ex-
claimed
Hint? Hint? No, I won't hint
hint, I'll just ask her outright
And he was going over in his mind
what he would say when thought
struck him and he fairly leaped from
his chair and gasped out:
my promise to my wife that
wouldn't marry again."
For five minutes Deacon Strothers
was as weak in the knees as IL he
had seen a ghost. He had promised,
and that promise was like wall
across his future path.
What did Martha ever poster me
into making that promise for?' he
asked HIMSELF. IL WASH i16ht lct
it wasn't. Did ask her not to marry
again in case / died first? No, OF
course / didn't. jest left it to her
feelings in the matter"
Was there any way out OF It?
Couldn't that promise be lodged?
1t was an hour after the deacon's
usual bedtime. but he was still as
lively as a fox. He went over the
matter for ten minutes and then said:
why did l promise? Because
Martha was in the best of health, and
appeared good for fifteen years yet.
Did she give me the slightest hint
that she was goin' to be silly enough
to get into a boat the next day? No,
she didn't. Did she say she might
get drowned? Not word. Wouldn't
court hold that 1t was deception.
and that l wasn't bound by my prom
ise When Jabez Reed sold me COW
for $50 and never said a. word about
her jumpin' fences didn't the court
~x,o1~s, Id n, foGo her hao1x To oosd ha