Omaha daily bee., 1885-01-31
JlM'S WIFE,.

sometimes saw his hands, long, thin and
white, with that pallor peculiar to plants
grown in the dark and human beings shut
out from light and air.
1t was midsummer, and the broad
street that ran down the open plaza
around which Comauche Is built, was
white with dust, and already reflected
back the hot glow of a scorching sua,
although 1t was yet early when l drew back
the curtain that draped my little window
and looked out, on the morning after my
arrival. The heavy shadows of al i'm
mense live-oak cooled all the front of the
low, irregular built Lighthouse into which
l had come as a summer guest, but the
big, square county Jail, nearly opposite
stood naked and bare to the light, alb.
sorbing the heat into Its solid white stone
walls and casting it out again In culver.
Ing rayea that thrilled all the breathless
air.
Everything was 50 still just at hat mo
ment; she herself was so motionless stand
lily LucEb Ill JIC llliuulC VI Viz SIlCtO NlUu
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 face; the sky was of so deep and
strange a blue and the shadow of the sin
gle scraggy mesquite beyond her lay SO
sharp and black upon the dazzling sand,
that ] had a curious 81 nsatiOn as if 1 We're
looking into a picture. Blu only for a
moment. A Gathering group of horse
men, booted and spurred, rode past; she
moved u step or two out of their may,
stopped and placed the child upon the
ground, then stood erect and lifted her
face again toward the dark, narrow win
dows of tina jail. And |, too, looking up,
saw for the first time those long, pallid
hands folded about the rusty iron bars
l dropped the curtain aud turned-to
be smothered in morning kisses, as the
children, glowing, rosy, bright, came
trooping in from their early breakfast.
Toward noon of the same day ]. stepped
out upon the v%ine-hung gallery. A glad,
life.glving wind was blowing down from
the great, purple, flat topped mountains,
Just over beyond the bright sweep OF
open prairie set about the little town,
and the mesquite groves upon the hill
side were tossing their feathery heads In
it ioyously. The wonderful lapis lazuli
blue sky was flecked with white masses
of slow moving clouds; one of these laid
half the village square In shade, In the
midst of which / could see the town well,
with Its broad stone curbing, and the
knot of men and boys grouped about it,
their hats off and foreheads barred to the
wind. A cowboy In picturesque costume
came riding across the sunlit half of the
plaza, and hts gay laugh tloated or to me
as he answered q mellow halloo from far
off In the distance. 1t was q pretty
scene, and l stood reaching for the flower
that swung above my head, and letting
my gaze wander In delight from purple
mountains to golden valley and back
again, until it fell suddenly upon a black
spot In the street clos by, and realized
with q shock that abe was still there.
The child lay at her feet, apparently
asleep. a little white heap In the dust;
the hands had disap peared from the win.
dow bars above, but just where l had
seen her first she stood, straight, slender'
silent, motionless. The flower fell from
my hand and the heart seemed all a
once to go out OF me.
She was always there. When l liftec
my curtain In the wan gray of early
morning, L found her there, or l saw hei
trudging down the sandy road, with the
child in her arms, toward her dreary
post.
Day after day the pltiless August sun
beat down upon her as shekept her sta
tion before that gloomy facade. Some
times, but not often, she sat down prone
In the dust, but always In the same spot
the spot whence she best could SEE
those singing hands. People went uI
and down the street; the tide of labol
back and forth; men rode In to the vari'
GUS courts and rode out again; wagons
creaked by, covered with white canvas,
from beneath which the curious eyes o.
sallow women and shook-headed children
peered down at her. But none of thes
things seemed to enter into her conscious
ness; she looked neither to right no
left, and the weeks wearing away founG
her with face still turned upward to the
long, narrow window, patient, quiet
fixed, and the child always beside her
times a second pair of hands grssped thu
they told me. SITS nigh abou
Blk years sense tney utoP
ped her man an twan't cool
blcoded murder neither. They've trailec
about God knows how and He only know
when, keepin' out'n the sheritfs way
aud wherever they've went she's wen
too, and sencs they've been here sh
comes In every little while and stay
round like this yer. Jim's her hus
band, you know" All, as If l didn'
knowl
My heart ached for her aud I used t
long, yet dread, to see her face. But
never did, though once she removed ne
faded sudbonnet as she passed me In tn
dim twilight, going down to the camp Il
the child slept at night under the darI
sky with It's solemn star. But it was 8
late that l could see only a lonely pal