San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-10-05
7. n. JULIAN, Editor.
MY UGLY LOVER.

DuntlnR,' i TcpHcus S"'oAuhJ o
ing breadth on which two burns and
large darn stood out in bold relief.
of YOU were not so stubborn you
might buy up every piece of bunting in
Darling's store, said mother, jerking at
her thread, for she was applying patch
to small trousers leg which was SUI.
fering from complicated compound
fracture.
~ was born, unfortunately, with
some appreciation of the beautiful,
mother, and If you think am going to
marry ugly Job Tubbs just because he
has a good business and keeps horse,
you have reckoned without my con-
sent"
"You never think of any one but
Yourself, Sarah," said mother, with the
plaintive wall which had induced Han,
nah to marry old Squire Piper, and
take charge Of his eight children. "lf
you were only as unselfish as your elder
sister," ..-
"Poor Hannah!" calculated. cit
seems to me that she made rather
poor thing of her unselfishness. She
married that gray-headed, ugly-temper-
ed old man because she thought it her
duty to give you one mouth less to feed,
and now she is as miserable as can be-"
"She has the consciousness of hav-.
ing performed her duty nObly," said
mother 81 don't know how / have ever
managed to scratch along since your ia
theirs death, with pittance to support
them on. If you were to marry JOB at
once, and release yourself from the
drudgery of this house, and take one or
two Of the children into your own.
Beauty is but skin deep, and job has
true heart"
"His name is enough to give a sensi-
tive person shivering fit," l answer
ed. ~ can't imagine myself called Mrs.
IubJs, and think of addressing soft
nothings to a man one had to call Job.".
cit is Bible name, as yours is" al
most sobbed mother, so vexed was she
at my persistent refusal to look favora-
bly, on the young man who had done
me the honor of asking my hand in
marriage.
81 unfortunately was not permitted
to select my own name. If l had been,
| should have chosen something more
euphonious than plain Sarah Matilda"
l rejoined.
"But, Sarah, think of all you might
do, all you might have, as Jobs wife,
persisted mother. "Why, you could
dash by here every night with your high
buggy and fine stopper"
"Yes; / know it, but you neglect to
mention the exceeding beauty of my
driver, mother. 1t would be remarked
on, wouldn't itp"
every well, Sarah, do as you please;
but when you are sour old maid, and
teaching the Waterbury school, perhaps
you will think that you had better have
taken my advice"
Perhaps so, mother"
Then was left alone to think over
my sins at my pleasure. l had known
Job Tubbs for over four years, during
which l had, tiguratively speaking,
trampled on him without mercy. But
with the strange perversity of man he
loved me better the more l crushed him,
and his feelings had eliminated in an
offer of marriage to me three days be-
fore my story opens. l rejected him
promptly, for, like all girls, l had an
ideal, and wanted to wait until | met my
hero before sacrificing myself on Hy-
mems altar. The ideal | had formed
was of tall, blonde being, with eyes
like violets crushed in dew, hair cluster
ing round his head like that of the young
Antinous, and naughty melancholy
pervading his mien, and giving sweet
ness to his smile, and plaintiveness to
his manly voice.
But Job Tubbs did not resemble the
ideal of my imagination in the slightest
degree. He was short, and inclined TO
the stout, and his hair was-well-au
burn of brilliant shade, and his skin
was inclined to freckly, while his eyes
were gray-like my own.
knew that | was pretty, and with
the assurance of youth did not imagine
for an instant that my first offer would
be my last. | liked job very much as a
friend. He kept large hardware
store, and his business prospered in
Waterbury. Folks prophesied that
Job would be rich man, and he was
in comfortable circumstances now. He
was good to the children, and brought
them many presents. always useful
ones, for he well knew how we strug-
gled to make both ends meet. Every
body liked him, and spoke well of him;
there were several girls in Waterbury
who would not have turned a deaf ear
to his suit, but he was undeniably ugly.
| was clearing up the attic day or
two after my final tilt with mother re-
garding job when heard the voice of
nv brother Frank, Familiarity known as
FATTY" screaming my name up the
stairs.
"Sar-rah. Sarah, come on down in
the parlor double quick. Ma wants you
TO sew up Dams back"