The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-09-05

Deacon. you YVES q 1cOl Tor maxim
such q promise"
q Know / was
''5iy old woman has asked me more'n
forty times to promise the same thing,
but 1 never have done it and never
will"
But i wish 1 hadn't"
'.BCt you did, and now we must
see how you can get out Of it. Was
your wife ever in a boat till that
day?"
Never"
.ewas there any call for her to go
on the river?"
Not a CALI
(which of the women suggested
that they take the bOat?"
''My wife"
Deacon Strothers, if that don't
come under the head of conspiracy,
then my old white COW is red one!
r. anyone conspires to force a
promise out OF another then that prom
ise won't hold"
''I believe you are right. BIr. Roe
buck replied the deacon with relief in
his voice.
that benefits only one side does not
hold Did your wife speak up and
say that she would not marry again
if you died frst?"
''She did not
''WeH, there you are, as free as a
bird though you'd better go to the
Darson and see what he thinks about
It He may hold sentimental views
The deacon walked over to the par
senage, and not wishing to be too
brusque, he began:
PEARSON, DO you hold that an angel
in heaven can see what is going on
here beI0w?7
IF they could they wouldn't be
angels very long" was the grim
reply.
Did you ever preach that they
could?"
Not that remember of. Heaven
is 4 long way off, deacon"
"lTy wife kinder believed that after
she got to heaven she could see what
was takin' place down here"
The parson was silent.
"She wanted me To promise not TO
marry again in case she died, because
if she looked down and saw me with
a second wife it would make her feel
bad
eff anything could make the angels
feel bad in heaven, it would not be
heaven, would it?'
'Py George, parson, it Wouldn't
Martha was mistaken about it. If
I was to marry half q dozen times
about IT."
'But did she ask you to prOmise?'
queried the parsOn-
Eyes, she kinder asked ne"
"And you promised?''
eyes, I kinder promised. but it was
because I did not want her to feel
bad as an angel. Now that you say
she couldn't feel bad if she tried her
hardest, I guess that promise needn't
bother me much"
''But look out next time, deacon"
"Yes-ahem-yeS ~
ITS the Widow Stephens, I sup
pose?'
Eyes, kinder
Throw out any hints yet?'
GA dozen, I guess"
'FYOu may find that she made a prom
Use to her dying husband"
"Jewhittakeri I'll see about that
the first thingi'
It was Il new scare for the deacon,
and he made the two blocks to the
widows house on the trot. He found
her in the garden cOaxing the pea
vines to climb their best, and he
didn't wait a minute before asking:
''Widder Stevens, did your husband
expect to go to heaven when he
died?"
81 don't see how he could. He was
a man that cussed and gambled and
drank
Did he ask you to promise not to
marry again?''
'No, ne didn't, and if he had I
should have told him that that was
my own business. Why are you asking
these queSti0nS?'
"Widder hain't I been a good man
at the woodpile?'
''Ffne'"
"And a good one in the gardenf"
Sure
"And hain't I lonely and you
Ionely?"
eve are
''Then-then let's get marriedT
ia mel Bring on the parson and
have it over with and off our hands,,
for them string beans have got to be
poled afore sundowni''