The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1869-05-10
THEEosf1 WIFE.
a Romance ofPittsBurgh and
.itIG Wheeling. ttEi

GOWN IFOh fltts0urgh on Friday, a man,
his wife and children had taken passage.
They were destined to find health, hap
tptpess and peanuts in Georgia !; The
Argosy Sss advertised to leave Pitts
tburgh on Thursday at 4 O'Clock. but
falling to fill up did not get Off Steam
boats do that way sometimes. r..s
The last faregslls had been spoken.
Cousins, nHcles, auntss neices, nsphews
and the long line Of kinfo1ks pertaining
to Pittsburgh family had sIobbered
their parting tears on the hair and
shoulders of the passengers, and naught
was wanting bat the hoarse "hsul IN
that gang-plank therew of the Captain,
the tinkle of the bell and the choo-
wool the escape-pipe.
But the gang plank didn't haul in,
the bell didn't tinkle and the escape
pipe didn't choo-woof.
The wife of the emigrant Dixieward
had already become tired of the confine-
ment Of the steamer, and longed to go
ashore. She was told the boat would
start on Friday, sure. But she had been
told the same thing about starting on
Thursday. She had been deceived once.
She was above being fooled a second
time. On Friday after dinner she re-
membered a friend of her mothers
brothers aunt's sisters cousins neiee's
husband to whom she had not said good
bye Could she enjoy happy day in
the sunny South with the great regret
pressing upon her breast that to this re-
latibn she had failed to say farewell 7
Of course not. So up to the neighborhood
of the Postoffice she went, and the time
passed pleasantly.
Meanwhile, the boat had completed
her loading and was ready to bear the
iron treasures of Pittsburgh to the far
West. The husband smoked his pipe
in utter ignorance of the absence of his
wife, and the little ones threw pieces of
coal into the river, regardless of the
fact that their mother was not there
The boat pushed out from shore and
merrily sped down the beautiful river.
By this time it was dark and the hus-
band called his wife, bat she could net
be found. High and low he sought her,
and he thought of all the stories he had
read of wives clipping under similar cir
cumstances. He was nearly crazed
when the truth flashed upon him. She
had cut her stick and left him to train
four olive branches. Four! Here were
but three! Great Hesvingsl Had she
taken one of them to again commence
business with, or had it fallen over
boardf
The Argosy reached Rochester and
the Captain telegraphed to Pittsburgh
to find, if he could, some tidings of the
missing wife. No answer could be re-
ceived until 7 o'clock the next morning,
and as the man was acting like luna
tic the Captain determined to await an
answer. The missing child had been
found few hours before enjoying q
s,ceet sleepoin an empty sugar barrel in
the store room. All night long the anx-
ious husband swallowed his grief and
whisky straight, and when 7 O'Clock
came and along with it message
announcing that nothing had been
heard of the woman, the Captain
thought he would be obliged to put his
passenger in irons if he event on So"
At Steubenville q dispatch was re-
ceived announcing that the missing
woman was on the c. & P. train, and
would meet the boat at Wheeling.
Then the poor fellow felt better. He
did not go much mind losing his wife.
He could easily get another one, but
"there were them cussid young 'uns,"
who could spank and keep them in
order like their own lost mother. Alb,
who indeed
The Argosy stopped at the Top mill
for freight and the deserted husband
and the Captain came down on the
street cars looking for the lost wife.
Every hotel was enquired of, every
likely and unlikely place was looked
into. Bridgeport was hunted from end
to end. Horror of horrors She was
lost again .
Then black despair settled down upon
the husband, and he took a square
drink. Slowly he started up Main street
toward the boat, his head down and
walking like man in a dream. A sigh
so heavy be heaved that his gizzard
nearly burst in giving it birth, and,
turning his face heavenward to call
down maladictions on the head of her
he had so loved, and who had thus be-
trayed him he saw-can it be 7 Yes.
No. 1t is, gracious heavens it is his
own lost Marier Jane, there, not block
ahead of him, her sunbonnet in her
hand, her waterfall all unkenpt and
floating wildly in the wind, the per-
spiration and dust baked into tiny mud
pills on her red face, and she making tall
time for the Argosy.
He calls aloud, "Marier Jane Ne
own Marier Jane, come to these fond
heart, me beloved"
She gave a sweet squeal of delight
and flew to him, and there, on Main
street, the gentle morning sunbeams
gliding their happiness, needless of the
winks and mods of the bystanders, he
folded his lost and recovered wife to his
heart, allowed her to have q good cry
on his shirt-bosom, and awaited the ar
rival Of the street cars.
Marier Jane has learned a lesson.
From the time she again set foot on the
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