The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-04-14
Mrs. Junkett's Husband.

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Mrs. Jumkett's Husband.
1t was the death-bed picture that did
it. Blarney Il Co., ordered it the very
next week after the assassination. Our
Martyrcd President it was called, and
designed to appeal to the popular heart.
Alas, we never dreamcd--at least did
MOTTO what extent the popular heart
should be appealed to. To bo sure, there
wa. a great deal OF bedstead in it, Kitty
copied it, remember, from the one in
the guest chamber, black walnut with an
imposing hcadboard.
The public said Chat Blarncy, senior
of the Co., the public require detail. |
may say they revcl in detail And in
mortuary scenes he might have added
i think the subject will attract said
Kitty. Il remember my fr.t boarding.
school composition. fortified myself
for the struggle with tafly and peanuts,
and then wrote on what DO you think ?
Grayeyards o. its solemn world,
this.
And 70 the President came to be mar
tyred, artistically speaking, on our best
bedstead. Alack. would that nothing
else had suffered there.
Kitty is my wiie-that is, she used to
be not that we have been divorced but
since that post.obit painting, the dear
public has another way Of putting it. |
am Mrs. Junke,t's husband
The first time ! ever saw Kitty she
was in hole in the wall that she called
her studio. 1t was at the tip.top sky
light Of Jones block. Everybody knows
that block ; you remember they said Jones
would have built it higher, ouly he didn't
own any higher believed that, as
dragged up those everlasting stairs, the
$50 pounds of mortal coil that was then
my own, and is now the property OF Mrs
Junkett
Miss Pell,' began, as soon az could
get my breath was long.wuded, but
not as long as those coniounded stairs al
Jones. Miss Pell,ou friend Mrs Rhea
has encouraged NE to hope tina; you might
be induced to favor me with 4 bit of ar.
tistic work p
was proud Of myself when Ia made
that speech I've been proud ever since
whenever I've thought Of it. Seeing tina,
the poor thing had lived on faith and
crackers. with very little Of either ioi
two mouths back, seeing she had come
clear up to these dizzy heights because
rent cheapens as you near heayen-ncigh
borhood, | suppose-seeing that her rent
for this last fat next the celestial wa.
over due, and seeing she was 80 deathly
white, and had such blue rings under heI
eyes, that looked every minute wher
she'd step GU. the dormcr.window up into
the next story ard never come dowr
again--coDsidering all this thought
achieved quite success for brusqu,
J fellow.
Il shall ever be happy to execute an,
order within my range. It's not wide ;
and saying this as proud as any queen, ,sh'
arched her little neck and drew in he
small chin. She looked naughty enough
but her voice-ah. Perhaps you neve
heard Of u women tender and young,
slave. apd a starveling all in one,
I'm suro you would succeed in any
thing'-Td have gotten down on M.
knees, then aud there, and sworn to it
and I'm told you make speciality 0
animals It's portrait Pm wanting 10
a present for my grandmother's birthday
A horse, possibly?'
No, madam. A cat
| said it solemnly, and then burs
out laughing and so did Kitty. He
laugh was sadder than crying, | thought
| don't remember much more, only some
how the comb tumbled out of her hal
and 1t all fell down about her knees-suc
hair And her hands when she tried t
put it up, they were like baby's, only
baby whose mothers milk has turned I
chalk and water.
) Well, the picture was painted in ou
east room. Miss Pell came | went t
fetch her, while grandmama was out o
her morning drive. l took in puss, an
| staid to assist at the posing. W
/ thought Of painting him rampant, with
rats retreating tail in the distance, b.
as Tom never saw rat in his life, woul
+ not have known what it was if he had IAN
would have turned tail anyhow, we d
cided to represent him conchant lie WI
an Angora, and ressmbled nothing create
so much as yellow door mat If the
was anything in which that cat excelle
it was staying where you put him. /
was Ike Raleigh in that, He restt
nightly
Kitty painted him with spirited e
= preston about the whiskers and fierc
ness in the eyes which was triumph
art when you considered that | had
pull them open to see what shade of gre
they were. We relied on whisKers al
eyes for expression. The fur being fl
inches long, the portrait vas bit obsc
=, as to the rest Tail and legs aud bo,
we're mixed indiscriminately. All, it W
! not Toms belongings merely that &
mixed. BY the time we were throus
Kitty and had confused the muem a
tuem hopelessly, and whether belong
to Kitty, or Kitty to me, or both of US
the cat, has never been settled from II
: day to this
We were married The course of c
love ran pretty smooth. The only snl
in the channel we're the eleven fema
whose hope and joy | was, and who n
urally enough entered protest agai
increasing the partnership to full doz
They had an er parte council. My t
grandmothers, my mother and my ei,
sisters sat on Kitty and me all one mig
and at last. when the sun shone thror
the rod cnrtains of the drawino room q