With cheerful
alacrity he dodged the stones flung after him with friendly, erratic
aim by the girl upon whom, yesterday afternoon, he had come to make a
social call.
HOW THE WIDOW WON THE DEACON
By William James Lampton ( -1917)
[From Harper's Bazaar, April, 1911; copyright, 1911, by Harper &
Brothers; republished by permission.]
Of course the Widow Stimson never tried to win Deacon Hawkins, nor any
other man, for that matter. A widow doesn't have to try to win a man;
she wins without trying. Still, the Widow Stimson sometimes wondered
why the deacon was so blind as not to see how her fine farm adjoining
his equally fine place on the outskirts of the town might not be
brought under one management with mutual benefit to both parties at
interest. Which one that management might become was a matter of
future detail. The widow knew how to run a farm successfully, and a
large farm is not much more difficult to run than one of half the
size. She had also had one husband, and knew something more than
running a farm successfully. Of all of which the deacon was perfectly
well aware, and still he had not been moved by the merging spirit of
the age to propose consolidation.
Pages:
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477