red, placed upon a pedestal and worshipped,
naturally comes to the conclusion that she belongs there. She issues her
commands from that height and conveys to man various delicate reminders
of his servility.

[Sidenote: The Pedestal Idea]

When the same girl is married and by due operation of natural law
becomes a widow, she doubtless has come to a better understanding of the
pedestal idea. Hence she does not attempt the impossible, and satisfies
herself with working those miracles which are comparatively simple.

A widow has all of the freedom of a girl, combined with the liberty of a
married woman. She has the secure social position of a matron without
the drawback of a husband. She is nearer absolute independence than
other women are ever known to be.

Where a girl is strong and self-reliant, a widow is helpless and
confiding. She can never carry her own parcels, put on her own
overshoes, or button her own gloves. A widow's shoe laces have never
been known to stay tied for any length of time, unless she has shapeless
ankles and expansive feet.

A widow's telegrams must always be taken to the office by some man.
Time-tables are beyond her understanding and she never knows about
trains. It frequently takes three or four men to launch a widow upon a
two-hundred-mile journey, while a girl can start across the continent
with considerably less commotion.

[Sidenote: The Inference]

The inference is, of course, that she has been accustomed to these
delicate attentions--that the dear departed has always done such things.
The pretty way in which she asks favours carries out the delusion. He
would be a brute, indeed, who could refuse the little service for which
she pleads.

The dear departed, naturally, was delighted to do these things, or he
would not have done them--such being the way of the married man.
Consequently, the lady was very tenderly loved--and men follow each
other like sheep in matters of the heart.

The attraction a widower has for a girl is in inverse proportion to a
widow's influence over a man. It is true that the second wife is usually
better treated than the first, and that the new occupant of a man's
heart reaps the benefit of her predecessor's training. But it is not
until spinsterhood is fully confirmed by grey hair and the family Bible
that a girl begins to look with favour upon the army of the detached.

[Sidenote: The Food of her Soul]

It seems to her that all the romance is necessaril