Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1872-02-21

/ U1aG mlSofaDle, 1OW-1YeQ HANK Slater.
[ tell you, squire, I was mad I just
flung that kitchen door wide open, and
seZ:
'EF Git out of this house, Josiah
Gould, and don't never let me see your
face inside ont again.
''Sez he, meek as Moses, Where
shall I go to, Nabby?"
"Sez L, don't care where YOU
go to, so longs you don't come near
me. I've always been respectable
woman, and I don't want any of Hank
Slater's friends round my house
"Well?" queried the squire, as Nab
by's narration came to pause.
Well.n said Nabby, in rather a
subdued tone, che went Off And he
! hain't come back. And I want a di-
worse"
g Now Nabby," demonstrated the
squire, "you don't want divorce. [
know you better than that. You are
not the woman to give Josiah up, and
let him go to the bad without a strug-
gle, You feel little vexed with him
now, and [ don't blame you. It is
hard, very hard But you know you
took him for better or worse Do
you think, yourself, 1t is quite right to
break your contract because it proves
the worse for you-because you are the
stronger one and he the weak one Of
the two? That don't strike me as good
Bible doctrine, Nabby. We that are
strong ought to bear the infirmities of
the weak, and not to please ourselves,
you know"
&C Well, [ Dunno said Nabby, twist
ing the corner OF her shawl obviously.
I" [ hadn't thought ont in that light, [
must say. It's so aggravatin' to have
such man for a husband Besides, [
dunno's he'd come back now if [ want
ed him to-"
/" Hasn't he been back at all %
Why, yes, he did come once, for a
pair of pantaloons. But / didn't take
no notice of him"
Now, Nabby, you may depend upon
it, it wasn't the pantaloons he was af
ter. He wanted to see if you wouldn't
relent. If he comes again, be little
pleasant to him, and I'll warrant he will
stay. Give him another chance, Nab
by. Josiah isn't the worst fellow in the
world, by any means. He has his re-
deeming traits, after all. I believe he
Will Nto DCbtC1, Il y 1OI WILL W uSlD
him. You know Josiah is one that
bears a good deal of encouragement,
Nabby."
g Well, Squire, I'll think it over.
Anyhow I'm obliged to you, You talk
so sort of comfortin' to body. You're
your mothers own son just the same
good heart. Would you be able to eat
some of my cheese, Squire ~
g Try me and see, Nabby," said the
Squire, smilingly, not impervious to
Nabby's compliments. Nabby made
her exist, just as Mrs. Hosley rushed
n, full OF wifely indignation that the
Squire had been allowed to see a
=" client
Nabby's home was over at "the cor
ners," three miles from the village.
She walked rapidly along in the fast
thickening darkness, with the steady,
strong gait becoming the self-reliant
woman that she was Yet even her
/ imaginative nature not proof
against the depressin' dfuence of the
chilly, raw Novembt- evening. The
wind whistled through the bare tree
branches, which creaked and groaned
mournfully, and waved widely up and
down in the dim light overhead. The
wind seemed to cherish special spite
against NaDby. It blew her bonnet off
and her hair into her eyes, struggled
madly with her for her shawl, took her
breath away, and firmly resisted her
every step. Finally, it began to send
spiteful dashes of cold rain drops in
her face-rain that seemed to freeze
her as it fell.
"Josiah used to come after me with
an umbrella when [ was caught out in
the rain,'' thought Nabby. "He was
always real kind and good to me, after
all. [ dunno's he ever gave me cross
word in his life, even when he'd been
drinkin'"
Here the driving, sleety rain poured
down upon Nabby with renewed fierce
ness, bustling her madly around in
fendish glee.
can awful night to be homeless,
Nabby," something seemed to say.
"I don't care, said Nabby to her
self, beginning to feel cross again, and
generally i'll used as she grew colder
and wetter. E'It serves him right.
He's made his bed, and he can lie in
it.n
Au Ui1S COIutIS, UIl6 llSuU
cheerfully out into the night from other
homes made Nabby's little house look
particularly gloomy and uninviting.
Nabby fumbled under the mat for the
door-key, fumbl3d with stifening fin
gers for the key-hole, and finally sue
ceeded in unlocking the door, and felt
her way through the little entry.
There is always something "uncan-
ny " about going alone at night into
dark and shut-up house. Even people
Of the best-regulated minds experience
vague suspicion of something behind
them, a sense of possible ghostly hands
about to clutch them in the darkness,
Nabbyw was a woman, like Mrs. Edmund
Sparkler, with 60 no nonsense about
her )" but, nevertheless, a cheerful tale
she had read only yesterday in the
Chronicle, about a burglar lone wo-
men, kept coming into her head, and
she carefully avoided the thick black
ness of the corners and the pantry door
as she CROPPED around the kitchen for a
candle. Of course the fire had gone
out.
"Two heads are better than one. if
one is a sleeps head Nabby might
have been heard muttering out III the
wood-house as she stopped painfully
down picking up chips; by which or
acular utterance [ suspect she was
thinking what a good supply Of kind
lings Josh always kept on hand for her,
/ and how much more comfortable it was
in the old times, coming home to a
house bright with light and warmth
and 10 siah's welcome.
For Josiah cherished the most pro-
found admiration for Nabby-an ad-
miration not unmingled with awe. He
thought her most wonderful woman.
She was just as beautiful to him as IN
the old counting days, before the
brightness and quickness of the black
eyes had degenerated into sharpness,
before the smiling mouth had acquired
it's hard, firmly set expression, before
there were any wrinkles in the smooth
forehead. People thought Nabby had