Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-06-23
The Doctors Wife,

lille OF humanity. SUD she, one vi tiiV
weightless molecules that 60 to make up
the mass (Mrs. Tanning was that bril-
liant little women from Andover, Mass,
who essaved to take the well-knOwn Mrs.
Rush's place in Philadelphia that winter.
She used to give weekly reunions with
out supper; she cannot understand. even
now, why she could not . form literary
nucleus" therc) Nobody contradicted
her verdict; she always claimed humanity
as her own preempted property; and, be-
sides. there really was SO little To say
about the Doctors wife, Mrs. Tanning
that AN American woman. II no
other. ought to have some salient point,
good or bad. to Justify her right to live.
and this woman was an American OF the
Americans, descended on one side from a
colonial Maryland family, and on the 9TH
er, from Pennsylvania Quaker stock, a
race of rcformers. who lived only tor great
ideas. But there WAS absolutely nothing
in the creature-nothlnG 1t WAS lneXpll-
cable, bv all the rules OF race" lie little
lady's speciality. by the by. was :. race
and strains of blood She could lay her
finger on the very great grandfather from
whom YOU inherited your long upper-lp
or gluttonous propenSit'cS, and reason Tor
YOU, out of these inheritanctS. such Sc
quenres OF fitalsm that your Christianity
tottercd quite to its foundation.
Now there had been no salient point about
the Doctors wife when she was Il fat baby.
or a girl at school. Dode Near WAS daily
set down as Il Ounce in every class, from
spelling up to International Law, and daily
took up her book witha cheerful, 1T real
ly is too bad in me, and went out with
fresh zeal to skate and run races with the
BOYS If she had been one of the delicate
LilvS,n and "Niolets whom the other
Girls set apart to adore, her lack of brains
could have been overlooked but she was
a short, thck-set little body with shock
of red hair tied back from a freckled face
which was lighted by laughing blue eyes,
-cves in which there WAS an undcnlahle
cast. She never, however. gave a hint OF
her opinion of herself, and always seemed
to be in good humor with her lot in life,
stupidity and squnt included. \ certain
undetin;tble something about the glrl would
prevent anyone from limiting a dlsagree;'-
ble truth to her. The same lmpalpable re-
serve or old fashioned courtesy III her too
made the BOYS who skated and raced VIII
her treat her with Il respect which they die
not show to the Lilys and Nlolet>. Hel
condition on graduation day would htvt
been pitiable If her pacd good humor htc
not made it asperatlnT. One OF the class
was going to sail rs missionary to Africa
we ali made Il heroic martyr OF her; We al
looked forward with hysteric enthusiasm
to speedily becoming famous authors
/ leaders in society, OF at least. wives anC
mothers. Trustees and faculty spoke and
prayed ut US; the very air kindlcd viii
! hone and fervor; and there sat that plump
/ Little Ounce ut the foot of the bench. smell
inc "A bunch Of the red Burgundy roses. o
which she was fond. quite contcntcd to be
a cipher now and in The future,
Here She WAS again, DIR. Moves wife
Shameless and frccklcd and bright-eycd a
ever; but the ugly hair was always deli
catrlv coitiured. and her simple drcs, !
marvel of exquisite art. She did not ctr'
| in the least that everybody believed tina
she had sold herself for ;tl establishment
WHY else should girl of her age marry ;
cynical soured wilower of fifty, with halt ;
dozen hobby-de-hoys of sons? " DIR
Moves" Mrs FannlnS SAID " was an am
bilious man, thwarted in hi, aims hy th'
drudrerv of supportinga family. He >houl'
have chosen An intellectual woman II In
second wife who could have helped him /
regain his lost ground.
The Doctors mistake was soon appAren
in his wife's course. The ftded carpet
and hlr-clotE sofas w.Ie swept out IF III
drenry Old house. The money spent i
making it bright and pretty. rs NJ. Fan
nin- said, would have kept open L sou
house all winter. Moves Old friends, il
stead Of smoking their mecrschaum- IN h
dusty Office, came in now 10 coy dinners
where each man found his tavoritc dish
his wife had a fine taste III cookery. 1t n
peared; in that, as in everything else. s.!
took life with zest and joyously; the Noy,
bows. who had begun to hang around Y;
rietv theatres and engine houses, began
: Give a series of dancing parties and prlval
theatricals at home. to which girls Of thc
own class came Now all these thing
bring in bills; the Doctor', long hoarde
money was spent Ike water. 1t was a
, inscrrlttblc mystery 10 our society leader
why he and. in tact all other men, clustc
ed around Mrs Dode, aS they called Et
affcctionatclv, like bees about honey. 81
never said ANYTHING worth remcmbcrin
= for five minutes: She made no profession
of love or friendship. Some of us, wi
remcmber how the whole school paused
hear her read her Bible verse, thought tt
:, charm Law in her pleasant voice. or cou
there be any magic in the clean, >pil
:. scent of Burgundy rose, with which Il
! house was ALWAYS filled? The men, whc
:. questioned, really seemed to have no d'
' finite idea of the women; one " liked he
, because she WIS quiet, another brratr
. al her hand shake was Us firm and grnuir
;, as a mans" another for her merry lang
' In the meantime they all carried the
secrets to her: the vcrv classmates of Il
y Moves bows wrote to her about their &c
y ]cce scrapcs that she might - see faith
{ and mother about it, and bee them off
II She had Il queer " following Of womc
{ TOO. shabby widows aud fashionable bell
and poor scamstresSeS-NOu were aS.llllc
to find one at.the tableas the other. She IL
not the least perception of class distinct.o OF
owing perhaps to those Quaker gran
- fathers who measured TIE worldItnd all
- it by ideas. She had. too, different rat
of value from ours with regard to OH
, things, Mrs. Tanning guncOnsciouslv ran
~ ek herself high in the scale of bein
~ because of her priceless brica-bac, Il
- portfolio of proofs before letters. Nj
! Dode also surrounded herself with ,
" W china and pictures, but was indflcrc
~ about it; she did not carry her little lux
il. !, les with the uneasy vanity of Il workm
~ in his Sunday shirt. Art AMI wealth h
70 been ordinary appliances of her mothe
10 family for generations. Size took n" mo
~ notice as to whether Il man was rich
" poor in such things than whether he ca
n to her gloved or ungloved.
~ ~ Somebody was sure to bring every f
N eign traveller to the Doctors hou-
ds whether it was prince, novelist, or po
~ Mrs. Dode welcomed them to her ordn;
ct table and habits, not concerning herself
20 inquire if they were used to a palace o
W. hovel; and they, in turn, forgot to not
~, ~ whether the napkins were folded in FL
- lish fashion, or how she dealt with her
y. " Il wish you to judge of us by our T.
", resentative women" Mrs. Tanning said
~ one of these tourists while they were Il
as in. at the Doctors, and not by negat
oil characters"
~ But he could look at 10 one but
.r. homely little woman at the head OF the
"A BILE. "Ah, madam" he cried, there
oe so many representative women. But
tA0 nc Of how prince harm