The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1882-07-06
TOMS CHOICE.

We had Just finished breakfast Tom
Isid down the egg-spoon he hEd been
playing with, and looked across at
mother
''Aunt Anne, / think I'll take awife,"
he said, exactly as he might have said
q think l will take another cup Of
coffee"
Take wife?'' repeated mother by
no means receiving the information as
TRANQUILITY as it had been given. What
foF?"
"Well, | don't know" answered Tom,
thoughtfully. Its q notion I've got in
my head somehow"
IAN nonseusen' said mother, sharply.
"Do you think sop said Tom, appar-
emily doubtful, but not in the least put
out.
Think so? | know it. What in the
world can you want of wife? After
all these years we have lived so COM
fortably together, to bring home some
body to turn the house upside down!
And, then, what is to become of that
poor child?"
The poor child"-that was red
dening at being brought into the argu-
ment in this way, was about to speak
for herself, when Tom interposed,
warmly.
Pm sure May knows | would never
have any wife who would make it less
home for her-don't you, May?"
"Of course" said [.
land I'm sure she knows nothing of
the Sort persisted mother, NOR YOU
either, Tom Dean. How can you an
sWer for what a wife may fake If into
Ia,. hnaI tn do Crat hpr HypH
here? You can't expect her to forget,
as you do, that May has no real claim
on YOU"
''That I have no real claim Ol her, I
suppose YOU mean, ma am,' Tom put
in for the second time, just as was
thoroughly uncomfortable. But, for
all that, intend to help her-thaC is"
added Tom, with one of his short
sighted blinks sideways at me, ''as long
as she'll stay with me, eh, Mary? And
whoever has anything to say against
that arrangement will have to 90 out of
my house to say it-not that I'm afraid
OF any such result in this case-and, on
the whole, Aunt Anne, l should ike to
try the experiment"
Mother smiled grimly, but Tom was
so evidently bent on his experiment"
as he called it, that she gave up the ar
| gument
You can dance if you are ready to
pay the piper" she said, shortly. ''And
pray, how soon do. you mean to be mar
ried?'
Toms face fell little at this ques-
ton.
''Well,n said he, Il can't say exactly.
l suppose we will have to be engaged
| first
"Whatr' said mother, opening her
eyes; "why, you never mean to say,
Tom, you haven't spoken to her yet?"
mot yet answered Tom, cheerfully.
Time enough for that. you know, after
had spoken to you"
''Well," she said, IF it was anybody
else, should say he was cracked; but
you never was like other people, and
never viii be, Tom Dean. But, at least,
you have fixed on the lady?"
'.Oh, yes" answered Tom; ''but if
| you viii excuse me, Aunt Anne, l would
rather not say anything about her just
yet; for-if-if anything should happen
it wouldn't be pleasant for either party,
you know" With which veiled allu-
sion to his possible rejection, Tom took
| ms nat ana lett the room.
Our household was rather queerly
put together. There is no particular
reason why l should have been of it at
all, for | was not really related to Tom,
nor even to mother" as / called her,
| though | am sure we were as dear to
each other as any mother and daughter
could be. She was the second wife of
| my father, who, like most ministers, had
been richer in grace than in goods, and
left us at his death with very little to
live on. Then it was that Tom Dean
| had come forward and insisted on Civ
| ing home to his aunt and to me, whom
he had scarcely seen dozen times in
his life before. That was exactly like
Tom. '.queer Tom Dean" as his friends
were fond of saying, ''who never did
anything like anybody else.n | sup
pose. in spite of his clear head for bus
mess, there is no denying that he was
whimsical; but [ am sure, when | think
of his unfailing generosity and delicacy,
| can't help wishing there were few
more such whimsical people in the
world. Naturally, at the time | am
speaking of, my opinion had not been
asked; all / had TO do was to go where
mother went, and. while she gave her
energies to the housekeeping, | gave
mine 10 growing up, which by this time
l had pretty well accomplished. But
perhaps for that very reason-for one
sees with different eyes at II and IS
my position in the house had already
begun TO seem unsatisfactory to me;
and the mornings words put it in a
clearer light, since it had been used as
an argument against Toms marrying.
| knew that mother had spoken honest
y, believing that such step would not
be for his happiness; but was he net the
pest Judge of that? ] knew him, if re-
lection should bring him round TO her
opinion, to De perfectly capable OF
| quietly sacrificing his own wishes for
| my sake, who had not the shadow of a