Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1886-03-18
MOTHERS LEGACY.
A Very Effective euro for Hypo-
ohondria-

iouf motncf icGocy mas come,
Maria"
"IIas it, JohnP Who brought itP"
at came alone in cab"
"Came in cab! What do you mean,
Johnp"
''Why, l mean what say; it came
In a cab, and walked right upstairs. e"
walked up stairsl wish you
wouldn't tease me so, John. What do
you meanPn
''Well, my dearest wife, in other
words, your aunt Amelia has arrived
big trunk, little trunk, bandbox and
bundle. She is now domesticated in
the second-story back room. otherwise
known as the guest-chamber; and as
her head is very tired. she is living
down to rest for dinner. / saw her,
however, doing mp those iron-gray
curls and corkscrew ringlets Of hers in
brown paper They look like the little
curls which are run Off piece of black
walnut board by the carpenters plane.
She likes her room very much indeed,
and seems to be quite happy. So,
brace up, Maria, my dear, and begin
now TO enjoy your mothers legacy"
Maria Templeton, the wife of Hon.
i. Templeton, member of the State
Senate from the county of Philadelphia.
was the only child of fond and doting
mother, who had just died. Maria, or
Pinkie, as she was Familiarity called by
the members Of her family, was en-
phatically spoiled child. A full-sized
cabinet of household advisers in the
way of maternal aunts and elderly
cousins had assisted the late mother of
Pinkie, Mrs. PentreGth Jones, with an
assorted variety of judicious advice,
until this mother, with an iniirm pur-
pose, had will which was mended
and reset by outside moral appliances
in the way in which a broken plate is
glued with stratena and is then loaded
with heavy weights. arranged on pur-
pose to test its latent strength.
Pinkie, as child, had always vaguely
imagined that a comfortable inherit
ance would one day be hers after her
mothers death. Not that she wanted
her mother TO die. In fact, though she
had husband, she never thought of
him as a social and financial eolian
attachment to the harp on the willows
OF her daily life. Her mother was her
only and constant comforter. Her hus-
band was a necessity, but her mother
was luxury. John made continual
game of his wife's staff of medical ad-
Visers, but Pinkie's mother hailed with
delight every new medical adviser and
every fresh plan in the lifelong search
for health. Every mineral spring in
America had been tried, but il invari-
ably happened that in one weeks time
after her return home the same dread
ful complication of maladies reap
peared. The hot springs of Arkansas,
the warm springs Of Virginia, with their
sulphur compounds and lithia alkalies,
and the electric baths of all sorts Of
magnetic doctors had alike been tried,
and had proved worthless. Carlsbad
and AK le Bains. and the Engadine.
and the Grape Cure Of Meran in the
Tyrol kept the ten thousand demons Of
inherited and acquired hypochondria
under for awhile, but, like their great
leader Abaddon in the Apocalypse,
after each short-lived mellenium they
We're loosed again for new lease of en-
deavor for little season.
A certain DIR. Mcpherson, in Edin-
burgh, whom Mr.. Templeton consulted
for his wife on their return from the
high-air cure in the Engadine and the
grape cure in the Tyrol. advised a
consultation with "A certain female phy-
sician at Los Angeles. California, who
had made Mrs. Templeton's 5 complaints
a speciality. He refrained from giving
the name, but gave the exact address.
The spring after this, when Mr.
Templeton started West on his annual
wool expedition for the firm of whose
house he was the unknown term, the
Go" he took Maria with him.
While waiting in the city OF San
Francisco for the completion of the
wool purchases. Mrs. Templeton had a
severe attack of polykakia, or many
evils, consisting Of headache, hypo-
neuralgia, malaria, nervous prostra-
ton and rheumatic gout combined As
she lay upon her couch, in her India
silk wrapper, struggling 10 fortify her
nerves by frequent internal cOddlings
against the coast breezes Of the mis-
named Pacific" her husband entered
the room, and took a seat BY the open
fire, with his back 10 his wife.
''Oh, Johnv groaned the voice OF
Maria from the muilicd depths of the
pillows, "if you only knew how / was
suffering from this wretched Pacific air,
you wouldn't keep me waiting in this
way with your wool business. You
would think more Of your wife and
less Of this everlasting wool-sorting 4"
John made no reply.
''Besides," continued Maria. IL am
very anxious TO see the Los Angeles
doctor. When can we get of?n
Still no reply from John.
''John" said Maria.
An oppressive silence followed, as
before.
''Johnin exclaimed Maria, what Is
the matter? Why do you not speak?"
~'ssI do not know how 10 speak. re-
piled John. as he took his wife in his
arms 'Be a brave woman, Maria,
dear / must be mother as well as
husband 70 you now. My darling child,
you have no motheri she died yester-
dayiH
The proposed visit 10 Los Angeles
was u course omitted, and the carriage
Of Mrs. John Templeton never stood at
the door OF the unknown doctor as the
chariot OF Naaman the Syrian stood at
fho door OF the prophet Elijah.
After the first shock Of the blow had |
passed away. Maria Templeton, by a
supreme act of the viii, aroused herself |
And became the brave woman which
she WAS al heart She bore herself
Ntll on lhe iong journey home, nnf
NI.| ~ tho CIuNIXNurI WN|IN INN |N|