Wichita eagle., 1888-06-19
TOM MIDDLET0N'S WIFE.

Kate Mitchell was one of those unfortunate
women whose surplus physical energies dis
tinguiSh them from others OF their sex. As
child, she was known as ''tomboy," and
prim mothers held her up as an awful warn
ing to their little daughters, while in her own
home the question of how to subdue her
buoyant spirits was wrestled over with true
maternal soiicitude. When she grew up,
society frowned upon her as q ''hoyden," and
her way was beset with thorns.
At Is she could row, and swim, and ride,
and play lawn tennis like a boy. She was a
great walker, and upon one occasion had
walked to Mt Diablo and back in two days,
with her brother and couple of friends, a
feat which alone would have Sufiiced to place
her under ban in San Frapcisco's best
society. That she sang like a bird, danced
like a sylph, and was, altogether, very
amiable pure minded girl, was small Of
set for the sum of her ini0uitiey, and although
she was exceedingly popular among a set Of
young and irresponsible boys, conservative
circles frowned upon her, and it was generally
understood that she was young person Of
most radical and dangerous tendencies.
1t was, therefore, matter Of polite regret
when the announcement of her approaching
nuptials with one of this same conservative
circle was received. Tom Middleton was a
promising young lawyer, of excellent family
and irreproachable manners. It had been
generally understood that Toms ideal was
Of a very different type, and more after the
pattern Of the elegant society women with
whom he had been accustomed to associate.
His intimate friend and boon companion,
Jack Spencer, who had always disapproved
of Kate, undertook to pose as the mouth
piece of society, and echoed its sentiments In
TOMS unwilling ear. Tom stood stanchly
by his colors, but his friends words sank deep
into his soul, nevertheless He secretly re-
solved that, for his sake and her own, Kate
must ae toned down"
He succeeded even beyond his hopes Nine
years after her marriage few would have
recognized In the quiet, repressed woman
the gay end spirited girl of former days.
Kate was fond of her husband, and the
alchemy of love had wrought the change; but
it is dangerous thing to NEEDLE with spirit
ual chemistry as well as the forces Of the
material world, and if Tom had known what
pentup longings and rebellious inclinations
ragged beneath his wifes quiet exterior, no
might have repented his success. But he went
Oh callously and bindly, as men viii when
dealing with delicate forces which they can
not understand, and Kate kept her
grievances to herself Two children came
the elder girl, fiery, untamed little Great
ure, who made the mothers heart ache, as
she saw in the child a reflex Of herself; the
other a boy, sturdy, deliberate, like his
father When the children grew larger, and
needed room for exercise and out door air,
which their city home would not afford, they
took up their residence in little country
home, not so far away but that Tom
could travel back and forth and attend to
his business, and it is hero that our story
finds them.
One gray December day Kate stood at her
window. gazing out upon the Landscape. It
had been duh, tiresome week. Several
days before Tom had started OFF on long
promised vacation, which was to be dedi-
Gated to hunt In the mountains, In company
with party Of friends. She was thinking,
with envy, of this merry hunting party, and
wondering, half bitterly, why amusements
that were conceded to be proper and health
ful for men should not be healthful and
proper for women. How she would have en-
joyed the long tramps over the hills, the ex-
element of the hunt, the joy of holding
good gun upon her shoulder, and knowing
of theni She felt wicked solace as she
thought of the showers that had fallen in
the valley and the clouds that had hung con-
stantly over the mountains She was
lonely, dull and cross, and chafed against her
hedged in life, with its narrow boundaries,
Its senseless restraints
There was a rush of feet through the house,
the door of her room opened and the children
BURST in.
Mamma, the creek is upl Take Us down
to see iti"
The childish longing for novelty and ex-
element found an instant echo in her heart.
They had run in from outdoor play, and
were bonneted and cloaked, with rubber
pvershoes TO protect their feet from the damp
earth AS for her, it was refreshing TO evade
Bridget's vigilant eye, and to steal out of the
front door in her loose house dress, bare
headed and with worsted slippers on her feet
They followed garden path for little dis
lance, and then entered a narrow lane lead
ing to place where they were accustomed
20 ford in the summer time, bat over which
nos swept a seething, tempestuous food
AS they looked and listened, Kate realized
that this was no ordinary freshet but the
product of a heavy rainfall over the whole
vast watershed which had accumulated its
forces in thousands of tiny rivuletS and Join
Ing issue with the mountain stream plunged
down its narrow channel, a mighty and
irresistible power.
Even as they looked she saw a wall Of
water suddenly rear up above and como
down toward them like miniature tidal
wave
The dam, built by the new water company,
had given wayi
They ran back from the shore 10 higher
ground. and not moment too soon The
stream rose several feet In a second II cut
into the solid banks on either side, and bushes
and young trees, rooted up and sucked IN By
the greedy current, went spinning by. A
giant sycamore wavered, flung out its bare
and skeleton limbs as if in ghostly protest.
and fell far out into the stream, interiocking
its branches with sturdy, evergreen oak
which stood Oh the opposite bank, while its
trunk, loosely anchored by long, snake Ike
roots, tossed helplcssly in nidstream-
Mamma, see the big boards contnGT
cried ont her little daughter.
Kate looked far up stream and saw great
timber sailing ieisurely along. Now it caught
on a projecting snag and swung hslf about;
now it struck submerged island, and idly
d;sengaged itself and sauntered on Behind
It was another and yet another-tbe stream
Uas black with them