THE RURAL NEW-YORKER] 
75 
Judge Seth on Widows. 
“Judge, what do you think oi the ser¬ 
mon by the missionary from India?” 
The Sunday dinner was over, and the 
Judge and the party sat under the chest¬ 
nut tree. The Judge was in a happy 
mood, although he complained that his 
265 pounds felt heavier than usual—he 
was afraid he was getting fat. 
“It was good of its kind, but I don’t 
much like that kind—one of those ser¬ 
mons about somebody else’s troubles— 
interesting enough, but all the good it 
does you is to make you feel sorry for 
the other fellow and wisa he would let 
you alone. I will te ready to think 
more about foreign missions when we 
pay our mortgage on the church and our 
people come to service as fast as they go 
to a mass-meeting when the brass band’s 
playing. But what he said about wid¬ 
ows in India was certainly curious. Just 
to think! Whenever a husband dies the 
wife gives up life, and either kills her¬ 
self or pines away until the end. Just 
think of it! No wo-der the country 
needs Yankee peddlers and mission¬ 
aries!” 
“Judge, you are evidently a friend of 
the widow.” 
“And of the orphan. Don’t forget the 
orphan. Since i have been Judge of 
the Orphans’ Court—I may say other¬ 
wise, also—I have found out a great deal 
about orphans—and, well, yes—widows.” 
He paused here and looked cautiously 
around to see if Mrs. Seth was in hear¬ 
ing distance, and finding she was not 
he proceeded: 
“My young friend, you must remember 
that the country that keeps down Wid¬ 
ows goes down itself. By the time it 
conquers the widows it hasn 1 strength 
left for anything else. Why was George 
Washington father of his country? Be¬ 
cause he married a widow. Who is head 
of the greatest Bower of Europe? A 
widow. Who captured our greatest 
hero? A widow, bo it goes! So it 
goes!” 
“Wherein, Judge, is the widow so 
powerful?” 
“The Lord only knows, my young 
friend, and I douDt ii He understands 
it entirely. Of course, a woman is the 
greatest power in the world, but a 
widow is a woman wit., an extra pull. 
Much of it is experience, naturally, but 
sometimes I think that a short course 
'in matrimony is a kind Oj. posl- graduate 
school—that s what you call ix, isn’t it? 
Now, put a person in college and keep 
him there all his life; what would he 
amount to? But put ^im there the 
usual term and then let him out in the 
world, and he will do something. Well, 
that’s the widow. Certainly it’s a little 
tough on her first teacher, but, as we 
say down at the court house, graveyards 
don’t pay taxes. 
“You know the roots of some trees 
will find their way through solid rock 
to reach water. Nothing is impossible, 
and the widow can beat trees just as a 
thinking man can cut wood. Now, there 
was Sally Madeson—Jack Madeson’s 
widow. She was just about the right 
size, with black eyes, and red lips, and 
real roses in her cheeks. When you 
put weeds on that style, and when the 
long eyelashes fall over the black eyes 
and the roses in the cheeks bloom all 
the harder for the tears that come down 
on them—like dew on the real article— 
well, something’s going to happen. On 
the other side of the road from me Jim 
Fendel lived, and if ever a man hated 
women Jim was that person. He had 
plenty of money, but all he loved in life 
was his gun and dogs. One day he came 
to me and said: ’Seth’—it was before my 
election as Judge of the Orphans’ Court 
—‘Seth, it may seem right conceited of 
me to say it, but doggone if I don’t be¬ 
lieve that Sally Madeson, or fate, or 
something, is after me.’ ‘Said anything 
to you?’ I asked. ‘Not a word,” he re¬ 
plied. ‘You like her?’ I asked again. 
‘Jehosaphat! No! Didn’t I say Jack 
was the biggest fool on earth to marry 
her? What I mean is that—I—hang it! 
I don’t know what I mean!’ ” 
“Well, I felt then that the outcome of 
the thing was just as good as decided, 
but to comfort Jim I told him to keep 
away from her. And he did. For in¬ 
stance, he took the baca road to town. 
But, of course, one day as he was jog¬ 
ging along what should he do but meet 
her—in fact, find her all alone in a 
carriage that had broken down. Well, 
he took her home. Of course, the seat 
was that narrow little thing in his two¬ 
wheeled gig. Young man, I hope you 
never sat on a narrow seat with a 
black-eyed widow?” 
“I never did. Judge.” 
“Well, never do it; but if you have to 
do it, don’t drive too slow; the neigh¬ 
bors might talk. Then one day he was 
out woodcock-shooting on the other side 
of the swamp—out in his long rubber 
boots. Suddenly on the oanit of the 
creek he saw the widow. She had been 
over to see one of her workmen who 
was sick, and the tide of the creek had 
risen and she couldn't get back. There 
was only one thing for him to do. He 
took her in his arms and toted her over. 
Young man, I hope you never toted a 
black-eyed widow over a cx’eek?” 
“I never did, Judge.” 
“Well, if you ever have to do it, hold 
tight, shut your eyes and pray hard dur¬ 
ing the ceremony. Of course, that just 
settled everything. Jim came to me and 
said: ‘It’s no use, Seen; it's just fate.’ 
‘It’s the widow,’ I said. ‘It’s fate and 
the widow both,” he said. ^ give it 
up,’ I said; ‘the compilation’s too 
strong.’ ‘So do I,’ he said. Of course, 
he thought that all he had to do was to 
go there and ask her and she would 
jump right into his arms. He didn’t 
know widows—of course, nobody does— 
but some facts are plain. As I have 
said, there is small satisfaction in haul¬ 
ing up a mullet, but there is a heap of 
sport in playing with a trout—and every 
widow knows that the easy fish is the 
least valued—or, if I’ve got mixed, it’s 
words to that effect.” 
“I have heard, Judge, that Mr. Fen¬ 
ders marriage was the finest thing that 
ever happened to him.” 
“So it was, my young friend; so it 
was. It was she who made him Gover¬ 
nor; and if he had only been born in a 
log cabin she would have made him 
President of the United States.” 
There was a pause, and the o udge con¬ 
tinued rather confidentially: “Now, you 
must understand, of course, you need 
not tell Mrs. Seth anything I have said 
about widows, but it is all true; and it is 
my conviction that the reason why wid¬ 
ows in India are abolished, so to speak, 
is that the old maids ana the married 
women control the votes. Of course, 
India is two or three thousand years 
old, while we are only two or three hun¬ 
dred, and it may come to pass that after 
this country begins to slide down hill 
widows may be buried, too, but I’m 
glad I’ll be dead before it happens. But, 
as I said before, you need not mention 
it to Mrs. Seth.” 
“You seem to think, Judge, that mar¬ 
ried ladies do not like widows.” 
“Think, my young ignoramus? Think? 
What’s the use of thinking when the 
fact is before your very eyes? They 
can’t like a widow any more than they 
can help looking at a new bonnet. They 
are all naturally jealous of her. Who 
can blame them? She has got all the 
good out of her first chance in matri¬ 
mony, and she is in a position to get 
the best in a second trial at the same 
game. I don’t say all women want to 
become widows, but I have noticed in 
all such misfortunes they all show a 
powerful lot of resignation.”—Saturday 
Evening Post. 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use “Mrs. Wins¬ 
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while Teething. It is the Best— Ait. 
.... People expect too much of the 
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unreasoning in its criticism. But though 
this is so, making all allowance for it, 
as I say, I still believe that there is a 
grave fault to be found with some 
churches. They are mistaken at least in 
the emphasis they place on certain 
truths; too much stress on little things, 
too little attention to great things.—Dr. 
Rainsford. 
....Eden, with all her happy bowers 
and many brooks, is reborn whenever 
two hearts meet each other in the bliss 
of youthful love, and every mother who 
clasps to her bosom her newborn child 
dreams that she is the first Eve that 
ever drank at the fountain of maternal 
joy. And when the frosts of sorrow- and 
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the voice of heavenly love explains that 
the discipline is but temporary, and that 
high above earth’s glooms and muta¬ 
tions glows a heavenly sphere, and that 
what began in joy and hope shall end in 
a kingdom of love and gladness, in a 
fellowship wherein God and man shall 
have part together.—President John 
Henry Barrows, Oberlin University. 
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