The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1885-09-04
"wALL. BY cosHr"


Of Which HIS Wife Was Made.
We were winding down one of the
mountain roads in Tennessee in cart
drawn bpa mule. The land was bar
rem, the cabins no better than novels.
and it was a query how people made
bare living or were content to stay. By
and by we came to turn in the road
where there was q trough to water
horses and mules, and the cabin of a set
tier. This cabin was the poorest of all,
and nothing around it indicated that
the owner made any attempt to cultivate
the soil. We reached the place just in
time to witness q tableau. A woman,
poorly dressed, and her face bearing the
look Of one who had seen much worry
and suffering. stood near the trough.
a satchel filled with clothing sat on
the ground beside her. Five feet away
stood her husband, burly, tough-faced
mOuntaineer, and he held switch in his
hand. Neither minded us rs we drove
up. and it was full minute before the
husband said:
"Mary. Ill wollop ye!''
''Jim, We dasn't!" she replied.
''Mary, We can't leave me nOhow!'
"Jim. I'm gwine ter do it! I've
starved an suffered till I'm clean gone!
I'm going home"
''Mary, if We don't take up that satchel
and march IN IN wollop ye good and
Stout"
There were two of us besides the
driver. The woman looked up and
scanned our faces. as if to Judge how
far she might count on our help, and
the driver said:
faint rulable fur strangers to mix
in, Mary. and Jim's got knife and
would kill somebody. Better 90 in"
'.Never!'' she Kissed.
''f you DON'T" said the husband, az
he came a step nearer, '.I'll make the
fur fly! Take that!''
With swiss he brought the switch
down across her shoulders and raised it
again. She stood stock still for min
ute and looked him in the eye, and then
walked into the hOvel.
'tRayther peart, but the CAD will cure
hertz grinned the husband as he drew
the switch through his fingers.
His triumph was short-lived. In sixty
seconds Mary reappeared. She had the
mOuntaineer' heavy rifle in her hands.
and as she came out she raised it on a
line with the mans heart.
"Jim. want We to git!'
"N-O!"
"Sartin''
"Shoo! Can't do itr'
''Click! elixir
MARY, what We gwine ter do"'
''Kill We like wolf in yer tracks if We
don't walk away!'
"Whar' TOP"
''NobOdy keers! Go sumwhar'
gOin'-dOn't never come back! Hurry
up. fur I'm going down on the stage!'
He looked into her eyes and saw the
change. Poverty and brutality had
come to an end. Love had turned tc
disgust, and in place of fear was such
bravery as he would not have looked fol-
in man on the road. He saw ''shOOt'
in her eyes. but he still hesitated.
''Mary. drop that rifle!' he whis.
pered.
Jim. git! If you are here when I've
finished counting twenty I'll kill yon a;
sure as there is God in Heaven!''
He began backing away. When he
had gone twenty feet he turned and
walked. When he had gone hundred
he halted, wheeled about, and after
lingering look muttered:
'Wall. by gosh! Mary, let's make
up"
keep a-gittin', .Jim," she replied, as
she still covered him with the rifle.
In five minutes he was out of sight IN
the road. The woman placed the gun
and satchel in the cart, walked into the
hovel to be gone two minutes. and when
she came back to the cart and took seal
with us flames were creeping through !,
hundred crevices between the dry logs.
Without word she climbed in. ard
only once during the five-mile ride did
she utter word. At bend in the
road she looked back ut the pyramid OF
smoke and flame wrought by her hands,
and said. rs if to herself:
Jim didn't know Mary, Jim didn't"
-Dttr0t Free Press.