Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1873-07-04
The Leisure Hour.
TOMS WIFE.
BY KATE PUTNAM osGooD.

We had just finished breakfast. Tom
laid down the egg spoon he had been play
ing with, and looked across at mother.
"Aunt Annis, think I'll take a wife,"
he said, exactly as he might have said, 81
think I'll take another cup of Coffee
"Take wife ?" repeated mother, by no
means receiving the information as tran
gully as it had been given. "What for9"
"Well, don't know" answered Tom,
tn oughtfully. "Its a notion I've got in
my head, somehow"
"All nonsense y said mother, sharply.
"Do you think SOP" said Tom, appar-
emily doubtful, but not in the least put out.
"Think so? / know it, What in the
world can you want of wife? After all
these years we have lived so comfortably
together, TO bring home somebody TO turn
the house upside down! And then what
is to become of that poor child?"
The poor child-that was I-reddening
at being brought into the argument in this
way, was about to speak for herself, when
Tom interposed warmly:
"rm sure May knows l never would
have any wife who would make it less
home for her-don't you, May?"
"Of course" said l..
"And I'm sure she knows nothing of the
sort" persisted mother, "nor you either,
Tom Deane. How can you answer for
what a wife may take it into her head to
do, once you get her fixed here? You
can't expect her to forget, as you do, that
May has no real claim on YOU"
"That have no real claim on her, sup
pose you mean, ma'am," Tom put in for
the second time, just as l was getting thor
oughly uncomfortable. "But for all that,
I intend to keep her-that is," added Tom,
with one of his short-sighted blnks side
ways at me, ''as long as she'll stay with
me, eh, May? And whoever has anything
to say against the arrangement will have
to go out of my house to say it-not that
I'm afraid of any such result in this case
and, on the whole, Aunt Anne, should
like TO try the experiment"
Mother smiled grimly, but Tom was so
evidently bent on his experiment" as he
called it, that she gave up the argument.
"You can dance, If you're ready to pay
the piper" she said, shortly. "And, pray,
how soon do you mean TO be married? ?'
Toms face fell little at this question.
"Well," said he, ~ can't say, exactly. l
suppose we shall have 10 be engaged first"
what y said mother, opening her eyes
"w by, you never mean to say, Tom, you
haven't spoken to her YETI"
"Not yet," answered Tom, cheerfuly.
"Time enough for that, you know, after 1
had spoken 10 you"
Mother, as a minister's widow, was not
much given to the idle mirth that is as the
cracking CT thorns under pot, but now
she leaned back and laughed till the tears
stood in her eyes.
"Well," she said, "if it was anybody
else, should say he was crack ed but you
never were like other people, and ou new
er will be, Tom Deane. But, at least you
have fixed on the lady?"
"Oh, yes" answered Tom; "but, If you
will excuse me, Aunt Anne, would ra-
ther not say anything about her, just yet !;
for, if-anything should happen, il would
MT be pleasant for either party, you know"
With this veiled allusion 10 his possible re-
lection, Tom took his hat and left the room.
Our household was rather queerly put to-
gether. There was no particular reason l
should have been of ii at all for was not
really related to Tom, nor even to "moth-
err" as l called her, though l am sure we
were as dear TO each other as mother and
daughter could be. She was the second
wife of my father, who, like most minis
ters, had been richer in grace than in goods,
and had left us at his death with very little
TO live on. Then 1t was that Tom Deane
had come forward, and insisted on giving
a home TO his aunt and me, whom he had
scarcely seen dozen times in his life be-
fore. That was exactly like Tom--"queer
Tom Dean" MS his friends were fond of
saying, "who never did anything like any
body else" suppose, in spite of his clear
head for business, there was no denying no
was whimsical but am sure, when
think of his uniailing generosity and deli
cacy, l can't help wishing there were few
more such whimsical people In the world.
Naturally, at the time l am speaking of,
my opinion had not been asked; all had
to do was go where mother went, and
while she gave her energies TO the house