Moriah's Mourning Author:Ruth McEnery Stuart Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE SECOND MRS. SLIMM EZRA SLIMM was a widower of nearly a year, and, as a consequence, was in a state of mind not nnusnal in like circumstances. True, the... more » said state of mind had not in his case manifested itself in the toilet bloomings, friskiness of demeanor, a"nd protestations of yonth renewed which had characterized the first signs of the same in the nsual run of Simpkins- ville widowers up to date. If he had for several months been mentally casting about for another wife, he had betrayed it by no outward and visible sign. The fact is Ezra's case.was somewhat exceptional, as we shall presently see. Although he was quite diminutive in size, there was in his bearing, as with hands clasped behind him he paced up and down before his lonely fireside, a distinct dignity that was not only essentially manly—it was gentlemanly. The refinement of feeling underlying this no donbt aggravated the dilemma in which he found himself, and which we cannot sooner comprehend than by attending to his soliloquy as he reviewed his trials in the following somewhat rambling fashion : "No, 'twouldn't never do in the world—never, never. 'Twonldn't never do to marry any o' these girls round here thet knows all my ups an' downs with—with pore Jinny. 'Twouldn't never do. Any'girl thet knew thet her husband had been chastised by his first wife the way I've been would think thet ef she got fretted she was let- tin' 'im off easy on a tongue-lashin'. An' I s'pose they is times when any woman gits sort o' wrought up, livin' day in an' day out with a man. No, 'twouldn't never do," he repeated, as, thrusting both hands in his pockets, he stopped before the fire, and steadying the top of his head against the mantel, studied the logs for a moment. " An' so the day pore Jinny took it upon herself t...« less