[Sidenote:  The Charm]

A widow’s degree of blandishment is conservatively estimated at twenty-five spinster power.  At almost every session of spinsters, the question comes up for discussion.  It is difficult to see just where the charm lies.

A widow has, of course, a superior knowledge of ways and means.  She has fully learned the value of silence, of food, and of judicious flattery.  But these accomplishments may be acquired by the observing spinster who gives due attention to the subject.

The mystery lies deeper than is first suspected.  It is possible that the knowledge of her own limitations has something to do with it.  A girl who has been flattered, adored, 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.