Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-12-09


IA that duty seemed to be no
Up longer appreciated took
L "a refuge in her forgotten
II @ womanhood and in the in
NJ, EA fnitesimally small argu-
.&kS IVA ments, resources and ma
EL> nmuvers at its command.
She had conceived singular Jealousy
of this daughter who had changed her
husband g nature, and who had sup
planted the traditions of the household
life; she had acquired an exaggerated
depreciation of those feminine charms
which had never been factor IN her
own domestic happiness. She saw III her
husband IS desire to mitigate the savage
austerities of their habits only weak
concession to the powers of beauty and
MISUNDERSTANDING vanities she mad
never known in their lifelong struggle
for frontier supremacv-that had never
brought them victorious out of that Strug-
D gle. Grizzlies, - ''furblows' and the
Hfancv fixin 50 had never helped them
in their exodus across the plains, hau
never taken the place of swift eyes,
quick ears, strong hands and endurance;
had never nursed the sick or banaaSeu
the wounded. When envy or jealousy
invade the female heart after forty 1t Is
apt to bring n bitterness which knows no
alternating compensation III lhat Co
quetry, emulation, passionate appear OF
innocent tenderness which makes toler-
able the Jealous caprices of the younger
woman. The struggle for rivalry IS IeiU
to be hopeless. the power of imitation is
gone OF her forgotten womanhood Mrs.
McKinstry revived only capacity to sui
fer meanly and infict suffering upon
others. In the ruined castle of her youth
and the falling in of banquetting hail ana
bower, the dungeon and torture chamber
appeared to have been left, or to use her
own metaphor, she had ENORMOUSLY COM
planned to the parsOn that ''accordlh TO
some folks. she mout hev bin the barren
fig tree elected to bear persimmuns.
Her methods were not entirely differ
ent from those employed by her suherihS
sisterhood in like emergencies. the I'M
lucky Hiram, 'worrited by stock, was
hardly placated or consoied by learning
from her that it was only the result of his
own weakness, acting upon the cussed-
ness of the ock-dispersing Harrisons;
the perpleXity into which he was thrown
by the news of the new legal claim 10 his
land was not soothed by the suggestion
that it was trick of that Yankee civili-
cation to which he was meanly succumb-
ing. She who had always been rough
but devoted nurse in sickness was now
herself overtaken by vague irregular dis
orders which involved the greatest care
and the absence of all exciting causes.
The attendance of McKinstry and Cressy
at a "craZy quilting party had brought
on s'blind chills, - the importation of
melodian for Cressy to play on had super
induced an "inard rash, - and threat
ened attack of ''palsy creeps' had only
been warded off by the timely. postpoIe-
ment of an evening party suggested by
her daughter The old nomadic instinct
morbidly excited by her di5content,
caused her to lay artful plans for fur
Their emigratioDI she knew she had the !
germs LG&mash fever caught from
the adjacent river; she related mysteri-
Gus information gathered in 'class meet
ing'' of the superior facilities for stock
raising on the higher foothills. She re-
luscitated her dead and gone Missouri re-
sations in her daily speech, to manifest |
invidious comparison with the living; she |
revived even the incidents of her early !
married life with the same baleful intent. |
The acquisition of n few ''biled Shirts''
by Hiram for festive appearances with |
Cressy painfully reminded her that he |
had married her in ''hickory - She |
further accented the change by herself !
appearing in her oldest clothes, on the !
hypothesis that it was necessary for some J.
one to keep up the traditions of the past
Her attitude towards Cressy would have |
been more decided had she ever possessed !
the slightest influence over her, or had |
= even understood her with the mtutive |
sympathies of the maternal relations.
Yet she went so far as to even openly re- !
greet the breaking off of the match with |
Seth Davis, whose family atleast still re-
tanned the habits and traditions she re- |
vered; but she was promptly sienced by |
her husband informing her that words |
f1that had to be TUX back had already |
passed between him and Seth 5 father, |
and that according to those same tradi-
tons blood was more likely to be spilled |
than mingled Whether she was only |
withheld from attempting reconciliation |
herself through lack of tact and opportu-
nifty remains to be seen. For the present |
she encouraged Masters attentions under |
new and vague idea that Irritation |
which distracted Cressy from her studies /
was displeasing TO McKinstry and inimical
TO his, plans. Blindly ignorant Of Mr.. /
Ford s possible relations to her daughter,
7ud suspecting nothing, she felt towards
only duh aversion as being the
sOnselesS pivot of her troubles. Seeing
no one and habituaily closing her ears 10
any family allusion to CTessy'S social 4
ITIulnE0S, she WIS uuaW-dTe VI even the
popular admiration their memorable
waltz had excited
On the morning of the day that Uncle
Ben had conhded to the master his ingeni-
Gus plan for settling the boundary dis
putes, the barking of McKinstry S yellow
dog announced the approach of n stranger
10 the ranch. 1t proved to be MIR. Stacey
mot only as dazzlingly arrayed as when
he first rose above Johnny Filgee 5 hori-
zon but wearing in addition TO his jaunty
business air a look of complacent expecta-
ton OF the pretty girl whom he had met
at the ball He had not seen her for
month. 1t was a happy inspiration of
his own that enabled him to present him. =
self that morning in the twin functions of
a victorious Mercury and Apollo.
McKinistry had to be summoned from
an adjacent meadow while Greasy in the
mesntime undertook to entertain the gall
ana Stranger. This was hsily done. 1t !