Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1884-11-29
JIM'S WIFE.

But / sometimes saw his hands,
long and thin and white, with that
palor peculiar to plants grown IN
The dark, and hum IN beings shut
out from light and air.
1t was midsummer, ana the
broad street, that ran down into
the open plaza around Wnicn
Comrnanche is built, was white
with dust, and already reflected
back the hot glow of the schorching
sun, although it was early when l
drew back the curtain that draped
nv little window and looked out
on the morning after my arrival.
The heavy shadows OF an Immense
Iive-oak cooled all the front oil the
low, irregularly built, log house
into which had come as a summer
guest, but the big. square county
Jail, nearly opposite, stood naked
and bare to tine light, absorbing the
heat into its solid white stone walls
and casting it out again in quivering
rays that thrilled all the GREATNESS
air.
Everything was so still just at
that moment; she herself was SO
motionless, standing there In the
middle of the street with the child
lifted in her arms, his little bare
legs showing white against her
rusty black dress, and his head
almost hidden beneath the FADED
yellow sunbonnet that covered her
lace; the sky was of so deep ana
strange a blue, and the shadow oil
the single scraggy mesquite beyond
her lay so sharp and black upon the
dazzling sand, that | had Il curious
sensation as il | were looking into
a picture. But only for a moment.
A gathering group of horsemen,
booted and spurred, rode past +; sne
moved Il step or two out 0f their
way, stopped and placed the chlld
upon the ground, then stood erect
and lifted her face again toward the
dark, narrow upper windows OF the
Jail. And [, too, looking up, saw
for the first time those long, pallid
hands folded about the rusty iron
bars
I dropped the curtain and turned
TO be snlothered in morning kls'
ses, as the children, glowing, rosy,
bright came troopping in from theii
early breakfast.
Toward noon OF the same day
stepped out upon the vine nune
gallery. A glad life-giving vino
was blowing down from the great
purple, tiat-topped mountains, just
over beyond the bright sweep o.
open prarie set about the little town
and the mesquite-groves up on the
hillside were tossing their feathery
branches in it joyously. The Won
derful lapislazuli blue sky was
tiecked with white masses OF slow
moving clouds one OF these Iai6
half the VILLAGE square in the shade
in the midst OF which l could se'
the town well, with its broad stone
curbing, and the knot OF men an(
| bows grouped about it. their NAT
| off and foreheads barred to the wind
A cowboy in picturesque COSTUME
came riding across the sun-ilt mai
of tie plaza, and his gay laugi
| fioated on to me as he answered
mellow hallOw from far on In IN
distance. 1t was a pretty scene
and | stood reaching for the tioWe
that swung above my head, an'
letting my gaze wander in deligh
from purple mountains to COLDER
valley and back again, until ii fel
suddenly upon a black spot in tn
street close by, and l realized wit
a shock that she was still there
The child lay at her feet, apparently
asleep. a little white heap in tn
| Al l. In III EiZAnn.i1rP(
from the window-bars above. bu
lust where | had seen her first sh
stood, straight, slender, silent, mt
tionIess. The flower fell from M
hand and the heart seemed all d
unce to 90 cIit of me-
She was always there. When
lifted my curtain in the wan gra
of early morning | saw her there
or saw her trudging down tn
sandy road with the child i'll he
arms toward her dreary post. =
Day after day the pitless Augu:
sun beat down upon her as sn
kept her station before that gloom
| facade. Sometimes, but not OTTER
she sat down prone in the dust, Du
always in the same spot-the spC
| WnoTC Sh0 COulu OOot on
clinging hands. People weLt u
and down the street /; the tide
labor flowed back and forth; me
rode into the various courts an
rode out again; wagons creaked D
covered with white canvass ir0t
beneath which the curious eyes
salIow women and shock-heade
children peered down at her. BIT
none of these things seemed to Ell
ter into her consciousness ST
looked neither right or left, and IN
weeks wearing away from her VIII
face still turned upward to the IONS
narrow window, patient, quiet fixe
the child always beside her, NUT
land motionless as herself. Some
times a second pair of hands grasI
Ell the bars. "rhat's Jim'5 yOuni
er brother" they told me. ut
| nigh about six years sence the
dropped their man, and twa'nt
q cold-bloOded murder nelthe
Thev've trailed about God know
how and He only knows wher
keepin' out'n the Sherlff's way. AT
wherever they've went sne's wen
too, and sence they've Deen hel
she comes in every little while an
STAYS round like this yer. Jim
her husband, you know" All,
il didn't know
NV heart ached for her ana
used to long, yet dread, to see n
face. But / never did, though 81
once removed the faded snnbonn
AS she passed me in the aim Nv
light, going down to the camp In u
edge Of the thicket, where she al
the child slept al night under Il
dark sky with its solemn stal
But it was so late that l could s
only a lonely naIlor and sunk
ewes that seemed not to see.
4 One morning, at last, l saw n
AS climb into rickety open Dugg
I'll drawn by the meagre gray nor
4 that had been staked near her cam
I saw her settle the child in her Il
i GRASP the reins and drive slowly
the i0ng hill that leads out OF tow
At the top of it she paused a
stood aD in the buggy, lookl
hack. Sier slender form was shal
4 Iv defined against the early MOI
mo sky for a moment-I can see
vet! Then she sank back INTO !
n seat. and presently she had pass
on: of sight.
n The mountains that have be
. wrapped i'm purple mists when tn
had sent their sweet, fresh bree