The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-03-15
NABBY's HUSBAND.

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NABBY'S HUSBAND. |
Il A knock at the squire's door.
j An eager ''come inn from th
squire, to whom any outside diversio
is an inestimable boon, he dhavin
just reached that uncomfortable stag
Of masculine convaleseence when lii
becomes q burden not only to the st
called patient" himself, but also t
those unlucky- feminine relative
whose duty it is to Off1ciate- as hi
'ninistering angels Hsssk
+ Mary, the servant, come in.
esPlease, sMr. Hosley there's L
4 woman down stairs who says. sh
must see you. She's been here befor
since you was sick, and now sh
won't take "no" for answer. nsl.7Ioy
SHOW her right up, Mary, said th'
squire, alertly, Frightening up visibly
like the warthorse who scents til,
battle afar off. Not all the cosy com
forts of his surroundings, the "Sleepy
| HOllOwness" Of his easy chair, tht
pleasant pictures on the wall, thu
wOod-fire which, now that the wintry
twilight was settling down over the
bit Of gray sky left visible by the
curtains' heavy folds, danced aud
flashed all over the room in rosy
shadows, could reconcile the squire
to his enforced seclusion. Secretly
he pinned for his dingy old den Of an
office, and chafed at the DOCTORS
restrictions, which as yet forbade all
thought OF business. But now the
moral police force, represented by his
wife and daughter, being luckily of
duty, there was nothing to prevent
this probable client. ~
"Show her up, Mary" said the
squire, cheerfully, Strengthening him
self, and assuming as much Of legal
dignity as dressing-gown and slippers
permitted. -
, Mary disappeared. Presently the
door opened again. "Why, Nab5y,"
said the squire, "is it you? How do
you doW
"Yes, squire, it's me-" said Nabby,
dropping down with a heavy sigh
into chair, and 1 don't do very
WE'LL" r@-
Nabby was a short, squarely-built
woman Of so, with considerable gray
in the coarse, black hair drawn stiffly
and uncompromisingly back under a
bonnet about fifty years out Of date.
She had sharp black eyes, and a
resolute, go-ahead manner. Evident
ly hard-wOrking woman; yet in
looking at her you could not help the
conviction that something more than
hard work had plowed the deep
wrinkles which ran across her fore
head, and threatened to lift her eye
brows up to her hair. Nabby had
lived with the squire's mother fifteen
years-from the time when Mrs.
Hosley took her in, ten-year old
orphan, who was, as the good old lady
sometimes expressed it, "more plague
than profit" until she grew into the
steady and reliable hand-maiden, who
finally, with every ones good wishes,
married young Josiah Gould, and set
up in the world for herself. Old Mrs.
Hosley had long since gone to her
reward, but the family still kept up
a friendly interest in Nabby and her
fortunes, the squire in particular be-
ing for her "guide, philosopher and
friend" in all the emergencies Of life
"Why, what's the matter now,
Nabby ?" said the squire, good-na-
turedly. "Are you sick ?"
"Yes, I am," said Nabby, emphati-
cally, with snap of her black eyes.
"I'm sick to death of Josiah. I can't
STAN it any longer, and I've come to
talk with you about gettin' divorce.
You see he's ben a growin' worse and
worse and worse now for a good
while. I've KEEP 1t to myself pretty
much, because / was ashamed ont,
and then 1 KEEP hopin' he'd do better.
I've talked and talked to him, and
said and done everything a woman
could, but 1t seemed the more 1 talked
the worse he grew"
The squire looked at Nabby's rather
sharp, hard face, and perhaps was
hardly so surprised as Nabby ex.
pected, that Josiah had not been re-
formed by the vigorous talking to"
he had undoubtedly received.
"He grew more and more shif'less
and good-for-nothin,n continued
"till finally, he didn't do
much but set round the kitchen fire,
half boozy. If there's anything 1
hate" burst out Nabby, ''it's man
forever settin' round the house under
foot. And there I was a-takin' in
and a-slavin' early and late,
to be kinder decent snd forehanded,
and him no better'n i dead man on
my hands, so far as helpin' any was
And so 1 told him, time
and again. He worked just about |
to keep himself in drink. He
knew he couldn't git any of my
for that. But stood 1t all till
about fortnight ago. I'd been work
i'm hard all day helpin' Miss Barber
clean house, and it seemed as If every
bone in my body ached, ! was so tired.
came along home thinkin' how
good my cup Of tea would taste. The
first thing see, when ! opened the
door, was old Hank Slater
settin' there in my rockin' chair. He
and Josiah were both drunk as
hogs" said Nabby, slandering an in
nocent animal in her haste for a
simile.
"They'd tracked the mud all over
my clean floors. The 'cookin'-stove
was crammed full of wood, roarin'
like all possessed. I wonder they
hadn't burned the house up before
got there. And they'd got my best
teapot out to heat some water, and
the water'd all billed away, and the
bottom come out. But the worst was
to see my husband a-consortin' with
such scum of the earth as that miser-
able, Iow-lived Hank Slater. tell
you, squire, was mad. 1 was mad.
Just flung that kitchen door wide
open, and sez L.
"Git out ofthis 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 I, IT don't care where you
20 to, so longs you don't come near
me. I've always been a respectable
and don't want none of
Hank Slater's friends round my
house."
"Well?" queried the squire, as
Nabby's narrative came to a pause.
WELL" said Nabby, in rather |
subdued tone, "he went off. And he
hasn't come back. And / want a
divorce" +'--~
"Now, Nabby," demonstrated the
Did squire, you don't want a divorce.
know, Won hntfer than that Vo,1