3-052-481 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Rich Widow, 1880. '...she, the gracious lady with whom this record is concerned, went on her straight path and her narrow way, being fancy free, and harbouring neither thoughts nor dreams of a second marriage. Her hair became white as silver within a year of her husband's death, and she always dressed in deep mourning for his sake, though she was not morose, or even gloomy, after awhile...All dependent on her seemed to thrive and prosper. Her farms were well tilled; her servants contented. She went abroad in her old-fashioned equipage, drawn by four white horses, with four mounted grooms in attendance, to open the gates on cross roads, and to clear the way of blundering waggons and erratic market carts; and no sooner had gaffer Tom Bobbin, or honest Will Saddler, who were her outriders, appeared on their steady nags at any village comprised in her estate than the children began to cheer'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.