The Wahpeton times., 1918-10-24
Getting Out
Of It
A@
n Don LA GRANGE

pr SynAioate)
Deacon Saeshass a4d his wife
wsre es1oAg suRpse when 10 said to
I'm aeress - ulAaee
"Asses. Il l sAsufd die, would you
0ar1H aandaF
"Haeas IA but what a anasts1," he
Fep&ea as he oAeaksd.
"Bat l shsufd Nike to know"
1T amt likely that I wouid."
you befisve I'll go to heaven when
I die, dent ysuT'
Straight "a a crow Hes"
"And how'd teel loolkia' dsw1 from
heaven and seein' you around with an
ether wife!"
But the angels in heaven can't look
down on earth"
1T Is said they can't, but how does
anybody know they can't?"
'These are nice mashed taters," said
the deacon as he helped himself to
some more.
His wife was q Christian woman,
and church member, but nevertheless
there were times when she wanted to
know, you know, and he iound 1t safer
to choke her off than 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 ten
years."
II probably. won't. and I want to
know If you W1ll marry again?"
mo, sir, shouldn't!"
The deacon was vexcd with her per
sistency, and he brought HHi his answer
with an emphasis.
"All right" began the wife and be-
gan talking Of something else.
Next day she and another woman
were drowned by the upsetting of a
boat on the river. The deacon, who
was over fifty, was overwhelmed for
a tile, but gradually his grief wore
away and he was like himself again.
It is not contended 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 a 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 spoons, but that
widder can make q custard flt for q
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 anI the
widder will make a match Of IL. hut
let 'em wink and blink. 1t hain't none
Of their pesky business. and have
told 'em So" s.'- ~.e..,.
linen with chuckle:
1t wouldn't be bad match for
either one Of us. Home is wher, the
husband and wife is. and we've neither
one of us got home 'cordln' to that.
wonder II I had better hint around?"
Three minutes elapsed and then the
deacon brought his fist down and ex-
claimed:
"Hint? Hint? No. 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 I
wouldn't marry again."
For five minutes Deacon Strothers
vas as weak in the knees as If he
had seen a ghost. He had promised.
and that promise was like a wall across
his future path.
"What oil Martha ever poster ne
into making that promise for?" he
asked himself. 1T wasn't right-no,
It wasn't. Did I ask her not to marry
again in case died first? No, of
course I didn't. Jest left 1t to her
feelings in the matter"
Was there any way out Of IT.
Couldn't that promise be lodged?
It was an hour after the deacon's
usual bedtime, but he was still as live
" as a fox. He went over the matter
for ten minutes, and then said:
why did promise3 Because Mar.
tina was in the best Of health, and an
peared 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 day7 No.
she didn't. Did she say she might get
drowned1 Not a word. Wouldn't a
court hold that 1t was deception, and
that I wasn't bound by my promise? I?
When Jabez Reed sold me a COW for
thirty. dollars and never said WORD
about her jumpin' fences. didn't the
court make him take her back: Il
said he suppressed a fact. Didn't
Martha do the same?"
The deacon went to bed feeling bet.
ter, but when he awoke next morning
his conscience began to trouble him
again.
"By heck, but sunthin' has got to
be did" he exclaimed over his break.