Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1874-05-16
II DOCTORS WIFE.

THE DOCTORS WIFE.
DIR. Noyes married, I think, some
where about 1858 or 1869. There is
very little to be said about his wife,
Mrs. Sarah Tanning, indeed, gave a de
cisive verdict upon her at first sight.
"She is one of the rank and file Of hui
marity," said she tone of the weight
less molecules that go to make up mass.
Mrs. Tanning was that brilliant little
woman from Andover, Massachusetts,
who essayed to take the well known
Mrs. Rush's place in Philadelphia that
winter. She used to give weekly re-
unions-without supper; she cannot
understand, even now, why she could
not form a literary nucleus" there.
Nobody c%ontradicted her verdict she
always claimed humanity as her own
pre- empted property and besides,
there really was so little to say about
the doctors wife! Mrs. Tanning re-
marked that "an American woman, il
no other, ought to have some salient
points, good or bad, to justify her right
to live, and this woman was an Ameri-
can of the Americans, descended on n
side from a colonial Maryland family,
end on the other of Pennsylvania Qua
ker stock, a race of retormers who lived
only for great ideas. But there was alb
,olutely nothing in the creature-noth-
ing 1t was mex licable by all the
rules of race ~ The little Iadv's
specially, by tine bye, was trace" enc
g strains of blood" She could lay her
finger on the very great-grandiather
from whom you inherited your long up.
perlip or g~luttonous ]propensities, and
reason for you, out of these inheritances,
such sequences of fatalism that your
christianity tottered quite to its foun-
dations.
Now, there had been no salient points
about the doctors wife when she was a
fat baby, or a girl at school. Dodc
Near was daily set down as a Ounce in
every class, from spelling up to inter,
national law, and daily took up her
book with a cheerful at really is too
bad in me-" and went ont with fresh
zeal to skate and run races with the
bows. If she had been one of the deli
cate "Lilvs" and "Violets" whom
the other girls set apart to adore, her
lack of brains could have been over.
looked but she was a short, thickset
little body, with q shock of red HAN
tied back froNl a freckled face which
was lighted by laughing blue eyes
eyes in which there was an undeniablt
cast. She never, however, gave q him
of her opinion Of herself, aud Away.
seemed to be in high good humor Will
her lot in life, stupidity and squirt in
cluded. A certain indefinable some
thing about the girl would prevent an,
one from limiting a disagreeable trut
to her. The same impalpable reserv
or old-fashioned courtesy in her, toe
made the boys who skated and race
with her treat her with a respect wbic
they did not show to the Lilys and Vic
lets. Her condition on graduation-da
!. would have been pitiable if her placi
good-humor had not made it exasperi
ting. One of the class was going t
; sail as missionary to Africa; we a
made a heroic martyr Of her we a
: locked forward with bysteric enthus
, asm to speedily becoming famous a
! thors, leaders in society, or at lea
4 wives and mothers. Trustees and ia
{ ulty spoke and prayed at us, the vel
. air kindled with hope and fervor al
there sat that plump little Ounce at IL
. foot of the bench, smelling a bunch
q the red Burgundy roses, of which 81
7 was SO fond, quite contented to be
> cipher now and in the future
8 Here she was again, DIR. Noyes' vii
Il shapeless and freckled and bright.cy,
7 as ever but the ugly hair was alwa
y ! delicately coiffured, and her simr
y dress a marvel of cxquisite art. s.
Z did not care in the least that everybo,
believed that she had sold herself
. an establishment. Why else should
, I, girl of her age marry a cynical, so
. Whoever of fifty, with a half dozen no
!, ble-de-hoys of sons? CDR. Noyes
i Mrs. Tanning slid, " was an ambitio
, man, thwarted in his aims by Il
drudgery of supporting a family. I
! should have chosen an intellectu
= woman as his second wife, who cou
9 have helped him 10 regain his 10
" ground"
The doctors mistake was soon appa
ent in his wife's course. The fad,
carpets and hair-cloth sofas we're swe
out Of the dreary old house. II
money spent in making it bright a,
il pretty, as Mrs. Tanning said, won
have kept open a soup house all winte
/, Moves old friends, instead of smokil
their meerschaums in his dusty ofic
came in now to cozy dinners, whe
20 each man found his favorite dish b
~ wife had a fine taste in cookery, it a
v pears ; in that, as in everything els
y she took life with zest and i~oyousl
The Noyes boys, who had began
- hang around variety theaters, gave
q series of dancing parties and priva
n theatricals at home, to which girls
their own class came. Now all the
things bring in bills; the doctors lol
q bearded money was spent like waite
q 1t wa an inscrutable mystery to o,
society leaders why he and his boy
and in fact, all other men, clustert
!, around Mr. Dode, as they called he
! affectionately, like bees about hone
. She said anything worth remer
. bering for five minutes she made !
!. professions Of love or friendship. Son
of us, who remembered how the who
school used TO pause to hear her re.
her Bible verse, thought the charm Ii
in her pleasant voice, or could there
any magic in the clean, spicy scent
Burgundy roses with which the hou
was al ways filled? The men, when que
toned, really seemed to have no de.
mite idea Of the woman one "likt
her because she was quiet" anothI
booause st her hand.shake was as fr