Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1892-07-15
THE HICKs-BRoUN DIIORCE


An Idyl of south Dakota.
Ii was a dog only a dog, but a
young-ady dog-not only female canine,
but what Mr. licks-Iirown called a "meas-
ly, dodgastcd pug that caused the eli
max. If there was any creature on earth
Mr Hicks-Brown loathed and dcspiSed it
was "a pug, and especially one of the gen
tier scX-and his better half, aware OF this
antipathy, had. with characteristic tcmi-
nine pcrycrsity. awaited herself of the first
opportunity TO POSSESS herself OF one of
these interesting animals which speedily
won IL seemed, first place in her affections,
and made Mr.. Hicks Browns life miscr-
able
He stood it, however, as long as hc could,
but the end had to come.
Mr. Iicks-B Brown was an architect and
it came to pass that he had on one occasion
been invited to prepare the plans for pub
lie building. The plans were drawn and
accepted by the committee, which, how
ever, returned them to him for certain i'm
pOrtant alterations; and they were laid on
the table in his den, to be attended to when
he returned home in the late afternoon of
a certain day.
Now. it so happened that Vic. the pug
aforementioned was of an inquring turn
OF mind, and she chose this very afternoon
for an exploring tour in the upper part of
the house.
When MI Hicks Brown entered his den,
about o'clock, he saw at once that por-
tions of his plans were missing, and, sup
posing that his wife had taken them to
show some visitor, he hurried down stairs.
"Whcre are those plansY' he asked
What plans dear?' softly inquired Mrs.
Hicks Brown, sliding her caramel into ONT
cheek, and still keeping one eye on a par
ticularly thrilling page of the yellow-back
novel in her lap.
"What-what plans DO you mean to
say you didn't take those Calumet building
plans from my table?' asked Mr.. Hicks
Brown, in some agitation.
"Oh-hr' said his spouse, mildly surprised
"Why it must have been those that Vic
had"
Vic-had "'Ihowled Mr.. Hicks
Brown. "And, pray, where are they
now?"
'Dont get excited, dear Were they
anything in particular! Vic had some old,
soiled pieces OF cloth playing with them
awhile ago; but supposed they were some
you had thrown into the waste basket, so
burned Henry What are you going to
do?"
But Henry did not answer He'strode
over to the cushion wherein the offending
Vic was taking her afternoon siesta, grip
ped her firmly by the nape of the neck.
and despite his wifes hysterical protests,
opened the door and kicked the bowling
animal into the street, and, not satisfied
with this, when Mrs. Hicks Brown would
have rushed to rescue her pet. he took her
by the shoulders and forced her into
chair, noting with grim satisfaction As he
did so that a couple Of street-arabs were
making off with Vic.
That day Mrs. Hicks Brown went home
to her mother, and two weeks later she was
member of the divorce colony in a West
ern city, seeking freedom from matrimonial
bonds on the ground of 'cruel and in
human treatment which she expected
the court, when her case was presented. to
understand as having been applied to her,
instead of TO Vic.
In the state where Mrs. Hicks Brown
sought her divorce it takes only three
months to establish a residence, and the
legal tormalities consume very little time;
but, strange to say, Mrs. Hicks Brown did
not lind il easy TO pass the time. The first
three or four weeks, in her tluried state of
mind, she did not nOtice-hut, after that.
time passed very slowly indeed. Strange
as it may seem, life apart from Mr.. Hicks
Brown was very, very dull-and lonely.
Yes, she had been hasty-but there was
no turning back now. She had burned
her bridges, and, besides had ever LoAe-
dale rctraced a step once taken? No! And
she held her pretty nose a little higher and
tried TO look haughtily don t-care-ah. all
the time feeling very miserable indeed
Everything seemed to cOnspire to add TO
her load OF sorrow. She was pointed out
on the street as a 'cOlOniSt,: men about
the hotel where She boarded tried TO thrust
their attentions upon her: and although
she met, through the pastor of the church
she attended and al the home of her al
tOrncy many of the incest people in the
city, she was almost entirely ignored in "a
social way, and ii CALLED her immcasurably.
She, a lOvedale-yes and Hicks Brown:
for even if the man who had bestowed the
last name on her did work for a living it
was a name to be proud of-to be- oStra-
cised by these insignificant country people,
half the men among whom attended balls
in Prince Albert or getaway coats The
idea As if she cared, And Yet she did
care a great deal.
And Mr.. Hicks Brown? He was work
ing away as though fighting time. lie
never gave himself a moment if he could
help il, for thought Not a word had
passed between him and a member of the
Lovedale family since the day his wife had
flung herself out of the house and returned
to her parents He heard she had gone
West for a divorce and il made him vince,
but he shut his mouth more tightly and
went at his work still harder. There were
times when he had to think, and they were
not pleasant times, There was one in par
ticular. A few months before, he had be-
gun to build, unknown to his wife hand
some new house in her favOrite suburb
and the time came for him to occupy it,
and she was not there TO enjoy it. His
younger sister, an orphan, who had Just
finished school and had come to live with
him, was delighted with everything She
ran all over the house, fairly gushing with
pleasure, and did not know that her
brother, sitting amid the confusion of fur
niture in the front hall was thinking of
how much some one else would have been
pleased. And there were two big tears on
his cheeks when he remembered himself
and arose to superintend the work OF
arranging furniture.
Everybody who reads the papers remem-
beers the Hicks-Brown divorce trial-hOw