Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1914-12-26
GETTING OUT OF It
Being the Story of the courtship
of a Widow and Deacon.
BY DON La GRANGE.

we're eating supper when she said to
him across the table:
Moses, if | should die, would you
marry again."
BLESS me, but what a question"
e replied as he choked.
But l should like to know"
1T amt likely that l would"
you believe I'll go to heaven when
die, don't your"
| Straight as a crow flies"
"And how'd l feel lookin' down
from heaven and seem you around
with another wife!"
But the angels in heaven can't
look down on earth
SIT is said they can't, but how does
anybody know they can't?"
"These are nice mashed taters,"
said the deacon as he helped HIM
self to some more.
His wife was a Christian woman
and a church member, but neverthe-
| less there were time when she want
| ed to know, you know, and he found
It safer to choke her off than to
argue with her. He was hoping he
had In this case when she said:
Eyes, I've got knack of mashin'
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 l want to
know if you will marry AGAIN."
mo, sir, shouldn't"
The deacon was vexed with her
persistency, and he brought out his
answer with an emphasis.
"All right" said the wife and be-
gan talking something else.
Next day she and another woman
we're drowned by the upsetting OF
boat on the river. The deacon, who
was over fifty, was overwhelmed for
time, but gradually his grief wore
away and he was like himself again.
It is not commended that he was an
absent-minded man, but it is stated,
and it is quite reasonable, that after
the first month the deacon did not
think of that promise again for four
years. Then 1t came like knockout
blow. Bit by bit he had come to be
friends with the widow Stevens. He
had sat on her doorstep; he had sat
by her fire; he had hoed in her gar
den; he had split wood for her cook
stove. Aye, he had called her Sarah,
and she had called him Moses. one
evening he had had talk with him.
self beginning with:
"By the great horn spoon, but that
wilder can make a custard fit for
king!"
And then: Deacon, you have been
widower for four years-for four
long years. You have been sad and
lonely. It has come mighty hard"
And again:
There's folks winkin' and blinkin'
around and sayin' that me and the
wilder will make match of 1t, but
let 'em wink and blink. 1t hain't none
Of their pesky business, and have
told 'em So"
Then, with a chuckle:
at 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. l wonder If l 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 a thought
struck him and he fairly leaped from
his chair and gasped out:
"My promise to my wife that l
wouldn't marry again!"
For five minutes Deacon Strothers
was as weak in the knees as II he
had seen a ghost. He had promised,
and that promise was like a wall
across his future path.
what did Martha ever poster me
into making that promise for?' he
1t wasn't. Did ask her not to marry
again in case / died first? No, oil
course didn't. / jest left 1t to her
feelings In the matter"
Was there any way out OF II!
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 boat the next day? No,
she didn't. Did she say she might
get drowned? Not word. Wouldn't
court hold that it was deception,
and that l wasn't bound by my prom
Use. When Jabez Reed sold me COW
for $50 and never said a word about
her jumpin' fences didn't the court