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Show m Wore Her Widow's Weeds Wfjb t flft, "Mr first church," says a cortnln By eloquent anil greatly boloved Wash- '" InRton clergyman, "was In a small r 'Kfcfe. country town, and boforo I learned tlio Hflfc hearts of my parishioners, tholr vraya Kmp used to upsot my gravity at tho most 'KMr liiopiiortuno tlmo. I Bliall novor for- Ejm got tho first funeral at which I ofll- ' K ' elated. It was that of a man who I ', , hnfi boon strlckon down In tho prlmo , t ' "fo. leaving a widow, who had boon ' t" i an "'"'"St bod rlddon invalid for yours. , Tlio sorvicos wero condnctod at tho L fejt homo of tlio docoasod, ami whon I ap- li K1 f pcarcd I was told that tho widow was " f too III to Ioavo hor bod, so, In ordor R Eft. '.,' H'fit alio might hoar my discourse, I Btef 4 waH asked to stand noar n half-open K i d(Kr which led Into hor bedroom. I 'ft' had admired tho doad man tor his JL fc' ' sturdy Christian qualltios, nnd ovory K W. '0"1 of tho oulogy I dollvcrcd camo P rw- straight from my heart. As I wont on ; -E with my talk I suddenly rornomborcd t F I tl'o widow, and turnod toward hor it. F door In ordor that sho might hear hot- jr- l . I tor- I had pot soon hor, but as I I f, looked toward her room my oyes fell ; ',. on her, and for full half a rnlnuto I 1 , waH obllgod to bury my faco In my p. 1 i liandkorchiof. Sho was lying In bod, ?A L. her arms In their wblto cambric pleovos Btrotched out on tho counter pnne, and on hor head was a now mourning bonnet, wlth a long cropo voil, Sho was not ablo to bo drosscd, but woar a wldow'B bonnet sho could, and did. "My first wedding, too, wns an ovont long to bo rornomborcd," went on tho same clergyman, "It was performed per-formed at my houso, and tho brido and bridegroom wero perfect strangers strang-ers to mo. Sho was fully six foot tall, and broad In proportion, whllo his head reached scarcoly to hor shoul-dors shoul-dors as thoy ontored tho room. I learned aftorward that sho was ox-tromoly ox-tromoly sonsltlvo about tho disparity In tholr sizes, and I had good reason to bollovo it, for, as thoy camo forward for-ward to tnko their places, and tho witnesses wit-nesses bogan to como In, tho bridegroom bride-groom paused and moved a chair forward. for-ward. Tho brido lookod at mo In groat embarrassment. Thon sho scat-od scat-od herself rosolutely. "'I'm fooling faint,' said sho. "If you don't mind, I think I'll tako It sitting.' sit-ting.' ''And with as much gravity as I could muster, I married hor sitting." Washington Post. |
