Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1884-11-07
yIm's WIFE.
[M. NJ. DAVIS ~ rnE cvRRENr ]


! never saw his face, nor hers. But
/ sometimes saw his hands, long and
thin and white, with that palor pecu-
liar to plants grown in the dark and a
human being shut out from the light
and air.
II was midsummer. and the broad
street, that ran down into the open
plaza around which Comanche is built
was white with dust, and already re-
fiected back the hot glow Of a scorcb-
ing sun. although it was yet early
when / drew back the curtain thai
draped my little window and looked
out, on the morning after my arrival
The heavy shadows Of an immense
live-oak cooled all the front of the low
iregularly built, log house into which
/ lad come as summer guest but
the big, square county Jail, nearly op-
posite, stood naked and bare to the
light, absorbing the heat into its solid
white stone walls and casting it out
again in quivering rays that thrilled all
the breathless air.
Everything was so still just at that
moment she herself was so notion
less 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 suubonnet that covered her
face; the sky was of so deep and
strange blue and the shadows of the
single scraggy mesquit beyond her lay
so sharp and black upon the dazzling
sand, that / had a curious sensation
as if / were looking into a picture.
But only for moment. A gathering
group OF horsemen. booted and spur
red, rode past. she moved step OF
two out of their way, stopped and plac-
ed the child upon the ground, then
stood erect and lifted her face again
toward the dark, narrow upper window
Of the jail. And l, too, looking up,
saw fr the first time those long, pallid
hands folded about the rusty iron
bars
dropped the curtain and turned to
be smothered in morning kisses, as the
children, glowing, rosy, bright, came
uooping in from their early break.
fast.
Toward noon of the same day
stepped out upon the vine-hung gal
lery. A glad, life-giving wind wa!
blowing down from the crest, purple
fat-topped mountains, just over be
yond the bright sweep of open prairi,
set about the little town, and the mes
quite. groves up on the hillside wert
tossing their feathery branches in i
joyorsly. The wonderful lapsislazul
blue sky was flecked with white mass
es OF slow-moving clouds one o
these laid half the village square il
the shade, in the midst of which
could see the town well, with its broat
stone curblng. and the knot of mel
and boys grouped about it, their hat
off and foreheads barred to the wind
a cowboy in picturesque costume
came riding across the sun-lit half o
the plaza, and his gay laugh fioated OF
to me as he answered a mellow hallot
from far film the distance. 1t was
pretty scene, and / stood reaching 70
the flower that swung above my heac
and letting my gaze wander in deligh
from purple mountains to golden val
ley and back again, until it fell sudden
ly upon black spot in the street clos,
by, and / realized with shock tina
she was still there. The child lay at he
feet apparently asleep, a little whit
heap in the dust the hands had dis
appeared from the window-bars abov,
but just where / had seen her irst sh
stood, straight, slender, silent, motion
less. The flower fell from my han'
and the heart seemed all at once to e,
out OF me.
She was always there. When / lift
ed my curtain in the wan gray of earl
morning, saw her there, or saw he
trudging down the sandy road, with tn
child in her arms toward her drear
post.
Day after day the plttiless Angus
sun beat down upon her as she KEEP
her station before that gloomy facade
Sometimes, but not often, she sat dow
prone in the dust, but always in tn,
same spot where she best could Sc,
those clinging hands. People wen
up and down the street the tide o
labor flowed back and forth, men rod,
in the various courts and rode GU
again; wagons creaked by, covered
with white canvas, from beneath which
the curious eyes Of sallow women ant
shock-headed children peered dow
at her. But none of these thing
seemed to enter into her Consciousness
she looked neither to the right nor left
and the weeks wearing away found he
with face still turned upward to tn,
long. narrow window. patient, quiet
fixed, the child always beside her
mute and motionless as herself. Some
times second pair Of hands graspec
the bars.
THAT'S Jhn's younger brother" the,
told me. "It's nigh about SIX year
sence they dropped Their man, ant
t'wan't in cool-blooded murdel
neither. They've trailed about Coo
knows now and He only know when
keepin' out'n the sheriff's way, ant