h
the proverb; and I do beg to tell those over cautious ladies and
gentlemen, who seem to know no medium between the cloistered nun and the
abandoned profligate, that Nature will prevail in their spite, or, as
Obadiah wisely and truly said, "When lambs meet they will play." And now,
reader, kind, courteous, gentle, or whatever thou art, I bid thee adieu,
with the hope, that if we agree at this, we may meet again on some future
occasion. IOTA.

* * * * *

THE SKETCH-BOOK

* * * * *

THE GAY WIDOW.

_A Leaf from the Reminiscences of a Collegian_.

(_For the Mirror_.)

_Why_ she came to the university was best known to herself. I cannot
bring myself always to analyze the motives of people's actions; and if
Mrs. Welborn _really_ desired, in lieu of acting mamma to children she
did not possess, to play the part of gouvernante to a couple of wild,
uncouth lads, (her nephews,) during their residence in college, it speaks
much for her good nature, at all events. They were not, I believe,
grateful for the means she adopted to display this amiable trait in her
disposition, nor did people in general appreciate it as they surely ought
to have done. _Ill nature_--and there is often a frightful preponderance
of _that_ quality in a small town--did not hesitate to assert that the
widow Welborn's motive for pitching her tent amid scholastic shades was
_in toto_ a _selfish_ one; even that of a design, if she could but
accomplish it, of adding _another_ self to _self_. I dare not, in this
era of refinement, speak plainer, but will take for granted that I am
understood. The widow Welborn, or, as she was more commonly termed. "The
gay Widow" from certain gregarious propensities, resided with a couple of
female servants in a small house, situated in the most public street of
the town; which I know, for this reason,--the principal court of our
college was opposite to it, and its gateway was the approved lounge, from
morning till night, of the most idle and impudent amongst us. Various
were the surmises as to _who, what,_ and from _whence_ the gay widow was;
by many she was supposed to be immensely rich; and by a few, some lady of
quality _incog_. Many, however, asserted, that her jewels were glass; her
gold, tinsel, and her glittering ornaments, beads sewed upon pasteboard.
Nevertheless, in the very face of this shameful detraction, to her
delightful little soirees