The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-05-14
THE DOCTORS WIFE.

THE DOCTORS WIFE.
DIR. Moves married, I think, some
where about 1858 or 1869. There is
very little to be said about his wife.
Mrs. Sarah Tanning, indeed, gave de-
cisivc verdict upon her at first sight
"She is one of the rank and file of hui
manity," said she; zone 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 literary nucleus there.
Nobody contradicted 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 can American woman, ii
no other, ought to have some salient
points, good or bad, to justify her right
to live, and this woman was an Amerl-
can of the Americans, descended on one
side from colonial Maryland family,
and on the other of Pennsylvania Qua
kor stock, race of rcformers who lived
only for great ideas. But there was alb
solntely nothing in the creature-noth-
ing it was inexrlicable by all the
rules of race " The little lady $
specialty, by the bye, was Grace" and
" strains of blood. She could lay her
finger on the very great-grandfather
from whom you inherited your long up.
per-lip or gluttonous propenslties, and
reason for You, outof these inheritances,
such sequences of fataIism that your
christianity tottered quite to its foun-
dations.
Now. there had been no salient points
about the doctor wife when she was a
fat baby, or 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 hei
book with q cheerful "It really is toe
bad in me-" and went out with fresh
zeal to skate and run races with the
bows. If she had been one of the deli
cafe "Iilvs" and "Violets" whom
the other girls set apart to adore, hel
lack of brains could have been over
looked but she was short, thickse'
little body, with a shock of red hail
tied back from freckled face which
was lighted by laughing blue eyes
ewes in which there was an undeniabl'
cast, She never, however, gave hin
of her opinion of herself, aud Away
seemed to be in high good humor witt
her lot in life, stupidity and squint in
cluded. A certain indefinable some
thing about the girl would prevent an,
one from limiting a disagreeable trutI
to her. The same impalpable reserv
or old-fashioned courtesy in her, too
made the boys who skated and race
with her treat her with respect Nhic
they did not show to the Lilys and Vic
lets. Her condition on graduation'da
would have been pitiable if her placi
qood-humor had not made it exasperG
ting. One of the class was going t
sail as missionary to Africa; we a
made heroic martyr of her; we a
looked forward with hystelic enthus
asm to speedily becoming famous AT
thors, leaders i'll society, or at lea'
wives and mothers. Trustees and fa'
ulty spoke and prayed at us, the yer
air kindled with hope and fervor; an
there sat that plump little Ounce at til
foot of the bench, smelling bunch {
the red Burgundy roses, of which sh
was so fond, quite contented to be
cipher now and in the future
Here she was again, Dr. Noyes' wifi
shapeless and freckled and bright-eye
as ever; but the ugly hair was alway
delicately coiffured, and her simpI
dress marvel of xquisite art. Si
did not care in the least that everybod
believed that she had sold herself fC
an establishment. Why else should
girl of her age marry cynical, sol
widower of fifty, with half dozen hoI
ble-de-hoys of sons? "Dr. Noyes
, Mrs. Tanning said, was an ambition
man, tawarted in his aims by I'll
y drudgery of supporting a family. f
should have chosen an intellectu
Q woman as his second wife, who con
Q have helped him 70 regain his 10
o ground"
. The doctors mistake was soon appa
% ent in his wife's course. The fade
% carpets and hair-cloth sofas were swe
N out of the dreary old house. III
% money spent in making it bright al
v pretty, as Mrs. Tanning said, won
o have kept open soup house all winte
Noyes' old friends, instead of smokir
their meerschaums in his dusty offiC
came in now to cozy dinners, whe
d each man found his favorite dish /
/. wife had fine taste in cookery, it a
d pears in that, as in everything els
,. she took life with zest and ioyousl
/. The Noyes boys, who had began
5. hang around variety theaters, gave
i. series of dancing parties and priva
!. theatricals at home, to which girls
le their own class came. Now all the
IS things bring in bills; the doctors lo
h boarded money was spent like wat'
et 1t was an inscrutable mystery to o
II society leaders why he and his bo.
q and in fact, all other men, cluster
around Mr.. Dode, as they called HI