Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-12-18

l A<SsAo, % ChS 0h0W ClCO.
Louis, We are out of vinegar, but
have mixed some sugar and water to
gether, and if you'll just step down anc
talk to it little, no doubt we will have
plenty of the sourest kind"
leila"
''Strp
care you aware to whom you are
speaking?"
Certainly, MIR. Weldon; Pm talking tc
the flower of this family, in fact, you are
the entire plant-vinegar plant, to speak
accurately
Mr.. Weldon, pulled at his cigar rehec.
lively few moments, then said:
Il see plainly that you need tanning. ]
have got my little mustang lassooed, and
now must tame ner. But let's make a
bargain, Leila, dear. What will you
take not to do anything unbecomng to a
married lady for month";"
Just the same amount you would take
not to speak a single cross word to me
during the time mentioned, nor scold
about anything"
Now, Mrs. Weldon, prefer to be the
judge of my own conduct, without any
restraint from petticoat rule; and really
pet, you wouldn't have other people
think that l was henpecked husband,
would your"
And Mr.. Weldon pinched Lelia's cheek
playfully.
"And, Louis, my love, you wouldn't
have other people think 1 was down
trodden wife,"
Mr.. Weldon wrinkled his brow
thoughtfully, but said nothing; yet he
l., l.,
ton to subdue to proper decorum his i'm.
pull, We little wife.
AT the end of the year he flattered
himself that he had succeeded admira-
ably; but somehow he did feel lonely
with his reticent wife whenever he
thought of their old lover days.
He had succeeded in his wishes and
yet he was not satisfied.
Then interfering people would talk
when they saw the change creep over
Leila Weldon.
"Ah, she has found him out" one old
maid remarked.
He's tanning her, that's plain" said
married friend. "And when she is de-
mure enough for an old woman eighty
years Of age, then he'll firt with all
the gay girls, and have the beautiful
excuse that home has no attractions
for him; his wife uncongenial to his ma
ture and he must seek an affinity else
where"
'It's all nonsense, love is" SAID anoth,
er acquaintance. Before he was mar
ried he went to see her three times
week and took her everywhere, and was
SO devoted; and now l don't su ppose he
takes her out once a month. His pres
ence at his meals is sufficient for mar
ried woman. l suppose that the awful
fact that she might actually enjoy the
atre or lecture never enters his mind;
bat such amusements seem to be neces.
sary to his happiness STILL"
These and many other remarks not
very complimentary to Mr.. Weldon
were freely INDUCED in by their talka
tive friends.
But had they really known under
what suppression Mrs. WeldOn's high
spirits were kept, they would have been
greatly surprised.
Mr. Weldon did not mean to treat his
wife unkindly, but if he had only taken
a peep at her end of the telescope.
Only married a year, and yet it seemed
a lifetime to Leila.
One evening when sitting alone she
heard Mr.. Weldon's step earlier than
usual.
A wave of gladness swept over her,
then it died away, and hard, bitter
light crept into those glorious eyes"
She started as if to meet her husband,
then sat down as she wearily thought
that it was of no use; he would only
frown at her childishness.
But somehow different spirit seemed
to actuate Mr. Weldon.
AS he came in he looked half pityingly
at the quiet woman sitting there, then
said, with assumed lightness:
Cant you kiss a fellow, Leila, when |
he comes home earlier than usual?"
Mrs. Weldon was somewhat surprised,
but she answered, coldly:
II hardly think it would be becoming
to my dignity as married woman"
A sort of frown gathered on Mr.. Wei |
don's face. but he crossed the room t,
where she sat in her pride.
Leila" he said, tenderly, "a boy
brought telegram to my Office to-day
that said Lily YVES dead'"
Leila knit her slender hands convul- |
sively together, and repeated the words
slowly, as though scarcely comprehend.
ing their meaning.
Lily was Lelia's older sister, and Mr..
Weldon remembered the grave, pallid |
girl who was introduced to him at their
as SISTER Lily"
And he had wondered how anyone,
and especially Leilia's sister. could grow
SO spiritless.
Her husband was grave. reticent man
that Weldon had admired for his change |
less dignity; but he could not help con-
trasting the impetuous tiger-lily and the
white wilted lily as he called the two
sisters.
Now Lily was dead.
She had died at her mothers home, |
where she had been for month or two,
with a mother to care for her.
The first tears that Leila shed for her |
sister Lily was when she saw her lying |
in the hushed room, with its soft perfume |
of flowers, its white and black drapery,
and its awful stiffness.
Not the man who had been called her |
stay and support in life knelt beside her
casket, but the one,
who had cared for the child and guarded
The girlhood of the sleeper, watched
alone by all that was mortal of poor,
pallid Lily.
While Mr.. Weldon stood silently by
be wa shocked at the growing likeness
between the face of dead Lily and that
IF his Leila.
There was grand funeral next day.
Lily's husband was there, carefully
dressed in the excess of mourning; his
ears did not moisten the marble face of
he sleeper, yet he grieved inwardly for
he bird that had flown for him forever.
But he was one of those individuals
who consider an outside expression of
any emotion as an evidence of weakness,
20 he never betrayed what he really felt.
When the last clods fell on all that