Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-03-31
SHE STOLE A HORSE.

"You know Pm always doing queer
things Kate said, but last winter |
fairly outdid myself"
aWhat did you dog" This in chorus
from the group seated around the blazing
fire.
81 stole horse" she replied with per-
feet gravity.
"Stole horser' echoed the chorus !;
"Tell us about it, Kate"
Every WE'LL" she said. Bring me my
knitting, Jack, will you, please? l hate
to have my tongue my only busy member !!
Can't find it? Well, never mind; come
sit down, and Pll find it myself"
While Kate is searching for her knitting
will you not allow the chorus to be pre-
sented to you? We, the chorus, are
Hates guests at her charming old home
stead at Sussex. We are not all sopranos
and altos by any means; there are an
equal number of extremely agreeable
tenors and barytones. For Katy, the
doer of "queer things" never demon
strated her queerness by inviting lot of
women to spend October with her in n
country house only to leave them to Ian
guish before each others eyes. Nor did
She trust to such men as the town might
offer; she imported her own specimens,
and whatsoever received an invitation
to Morningside" could rely. upon the
choiceness of the specimens. This had
been so in the days when Kate was en-
tirely ''fancy Free" and lived at Morning
sideD with chaperon as charming as she
was useless, and now that the grand old
place had master as well as a mistress,
the same rule of agreeable pairing of, was
still adhered to. Which proves, does it
not, that Kate was glorious exception to
the rule of average young married women,
who being quite content with their own
life-cayalier, dreams not that other maidens
may sigh for other companionship than
his?
This was our first October at Morning
side since Hates marriage, and on the par
ticular evening whereof | write we were
seated in semi-circle around the blazing
logs, Kate in the middle, and Jack, her
husband, very near her. When she an
nounced her last escapade smile might
have been seen lowering about his lips,
amused at first, then melting gradually
into one of extreme tenderness, which said
quite as plainly as words that Hates story
was one of interest to him.
"Do you believe in the depravity of in
animate objects ~ Kate inquired when she
Joined us again. 81 do. l am willing to
swear that | left this knitting on yonder
table. | found it in the library under
chair, where it had deliberately hidden
itself from me-"
at must be feminine" said Berry, cast
ing reproachful glance at Laura, "and
therefore bound to be as aggravating as
possible.
81 knew very well you would chase it,
Kate" said Laura, calmly.
Imagine its disappointment if you
hadn't, Kate" said Jack, smiling saucily
at Laura.
''My DEAR" said Kate, "don't you know
they never run away except they are NOR
ally certain of being chased ?"
as knitting They" asked Jack
gravely.
''No, but women are. You know what
l mean
"But the story" said Laura, who did
not fancy the turn the conversation had
taken.
"Of course, the story p we exclaimed
together.
"Well," said Kate, settling herself COM
fortably in her chair. "You know spent
winter before last in Boston, and being
thoroughly tired Of hotel life, and not car
ing to take house of my own, went to
a large clearinghouse. | need not de-
scribe it; you know that by some mysteri-
Gus ruling of the unseen fates boarding
house is nothing more nor less than rally
ing ground for widows, and mine was no
exception to the rule. There were widows
in every stage of mourning; from the in
disputable hue of real grief to the delicate
tint of questionable sorrow. Some were
natural widows who had really lost real
husbands, others of that variety called
grass because they spring up every
where, just as grass does, suppose. But
all called themselves widows. OF one only
shall | speak-Mrs. Otis. From my ar
rival to my departure, Mrs. Otis was con-
stantly on the watch for me to do queer
things And l did my best to
crafty her desire; never disappointed
her if / could help it. When / failed to
iuEnisil Her Win weekly norseA 10 roll
under her tongue she was positively of
Tended, and looked upon it as personal
affront. Yet, in spite of my genuine eff
forts to be useful to her as moral where
with to adorn her many tales Of feminine
idiosyncracies, she never appeared specially
grateful to me. In fact we were so mu-
tually antagonistic that, although no open
warfare existed between us, it was evident
enough that we were not friends. One of
the bright young girls in the house spoke
of Mrs. Otis always as my particular
enemy But enough of that. She has
since married, and if longed for revenge
couldn't have had any sweeter" And
Kate laughed unsteady.
"WhyF we clamored.
Because she married the man she