Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1922-01-06
Nature Acts as
Cupid
By CLAIRE SMITH.

SUI Eit hilCHeu HIS ClViiACc WOuAA
ask of William Yoakum at the village
store. And Yoakum, with a sudden
flash of anger in his blue eyes, would
answer:
81 don't go cOurtin' no women. When
they want me let 'em send for me-
All of which would duly find its
way to the Widow Wilson'S ears
through the wives Of the various audi
tors of Yoakum's ultimatum.
Nevertheless it did seem strange
that two old friends should live in
chilly isolation upon neighboring
ranches. Their children had grown
up together and everybody had ex-
pected them to get married. Then
Wilson had come along and snatched
AdeIine Farley out of Yoakums hand
almost literally, for the bans had
been announced when the startling
news came from Kansas City that the
pair were man and wife. Old Farley
forgaye his daughter and took her
home when Wilson deserted his young
bride; but Yoakum never got over
it.
Yoakum had never married. Cos
sips averred that he and the widow
would soon come together, even
though bitter enmity seemed to
rage between Them But YOakum was
proud as well as shy. Thus, when he
was twitted, he returned the answer
given above.
81 should think, Adeline, that COM
paratively young woman like you
would think of marrying again." her
friends would say, thinking of her
neighbor.
IF it's viii Yoakum you're think
ing Of Mrs. Wilson answered, you're
all dead wrong. When a man wants
to come counting me, let him come
and ask me. 1 don't go out of the
way to invite any man into my home"
"Pll never enter her home until she
asks me-" was Yoakum's answer, and
the two stood pat, Thus matters ran
along for year after Adeline's re-
turn.
March came, snowy and clustering.
The winds were incessant. Yoakum
was Harvesting his horse for the first
blowing one day when he felt a vio-
lent blow on the back of the head.
He lapsed into Inconsistencies.
He opened his eyes ages later, as
it seemed, and the first thing they lit
upon was the Widow Wilson.
He was lying in bed in a darkened
room, and she sat by his side. Her
eyes We're red from crying. Yoakum
endeavored to sit up.
Hush !" she said, gently pressing
him backward. "You have been very
i'll. You must lie STILL"
The widow, in his house! Yoakum
had often pictured the possibility of
such an occurrence, but now, to his
surprise. his sancation was ore of
shame.
"Adeline,' he said, timidly, cit all
seems like dream to me-"
Adeline was silent, but he could see
that she. too, was moved.
at seems as though we hadn't been
parted these five and twenty years,
Adeline," he resumed.
"Why did you marry Wilson, dear2'
asked the man.
II guess because 1 was a fool WILL"
she answered.
"And you couldn't manage to care
for me just the least biz, could you,
Adder" he asked.
The widow was tracing out the pat
tern upon the Counterpart. "Why
wouldn't you come to see Iae?" she
asked, suddenly.
81 guess for the same reason that
you married wilson, he answered.
'I'm stubborn, as you are. But I'm
sorry. And when / think that it was
you who gave in and came to me, it
just makes me feel cheap. Did they
get the robbers"
Robbers? What robbers?" asked
Adeline, looking at him curiously.
where do vou think you are, WHIP
inquired the Widow Wilson.
why. at home, of course" he an
swered. Where else should 1. be?
But see you've changed the furni-
ture round, haven't your
The Widow Wilson was laughing
and crying Historically. Yoakum
looked at her in wonder.
Don't you know that when oar
fathers built their homes they made
them both the same and got the same
kind of furniture?" she asked when
she had recovered her self-possession.
you mean-that Pm in your house,
Adder" he cried. ''WLo brought mo
hereT"
you brought yourself, my dear, yes
terday morning. There weren't any
robbers, win, it was cyclone.
Picked you up from your pillow and
carried you nicely through the air and
planked you down beside me on a bed
of hay I'd pulled down for Bessie and
her calf If that pillow hadn't toppled
over on your head"
But the Widow Wilson did not have
a chance to finish Just then for VII.