Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1892-12-09
MATS HUSBAND.
By n. l. KETcHUM.

She doubtless had woman's reason
for marrying him. That kind of req
son may not satisfy other people, bui
it is invariably sufficient for the ferii-
nine reasoncr
Sam Toms was what is called
"wuthlcss" by his Texan neighbors.
Old Bill Bum, his father-in-law, him
self not very energetic or useful
cilizen, used to sit on the steps at the
crossroads store aad publicly bewail
his sad lot in having Sam for men,
Der of his family.
Nominally, Sam was cowboy; but
most of the time lie would tell YOU he
was sizes layin' Off spell, t rest up
like
lie had always been just so-dislin-
guished for laz.ness in an easy-going
communicated nobody expected him
ever to be otherwise; and it puzzled
people immensely when energetic,
capable Matte Bum accepted him for
"reg'lar comp'ny," to say nothing of
the sensation created by their we'd
ding.
Mat, as has been suggested, proba-
bly, had some reason for marrying
Sam; but it is quite certain that she
never told any one what that reason
was. Sam was tall, and big, and
handsome in his careless, slouchy way;
he had always managed, no one knew
how, to wear good clothes, too. These
facts and his perennial good-nalure
and friendly ways, were the only
points in his favor. Against him
were the points SO forcibly taken bs
his faiher-in-law, and, also, thay
do SO, and was, morally, so weak That
any one cnnld easily lead him astray.
How Mat and Sam got along, no
one but Mat knew. Once in a great
while, Sam would do some work and
earn few dollars. If he got home
with it without stopping at the saloon,
well and good. But oftencr than not,
he would "drap in jes' Z take nip r
two," and that would settle it. At
such times, he would stay and buy
drinks for everybody present while
his money lasted. Then he would
come home in a maudlin, fearful state
of intoxication, and invent some tale
to account for his condition aud the
Disappearance of ns money, winding
up with the promise never to let ii
happen again. Aud Mat would pre-
tend that she believed him, and would
stroke his curly head until lie fell
asleep. Then she would look at the
handsome scamp for a few minutes
with love unutt' r tble in her eyes-,he
lired eyes back of which were world
of unshed tears. But she never con-
plained-not the first word; the firm
set mouth and weary look might indi-
cate ever so much, but her lips never
expressed it. And Sam gradually
grew more and more useless aud shift
less, trusting to his wife's ready wit
and fertility of resource TO carry them
both over the bad places.
There were lots of bad places, too.
Twice Sam ran into debt several dol
lars ut the saloon, aud Mat found
some means to pay the debts-only
herself knew how. But the second
time she informed the saloon man that
he must trust Sam no more. And,
besides these things, to live-how did
they do il? Nobody could guess.
Perhaps even Mat herself could not
have told; yet live they did-or,
rather, existed and, for the most
part, kept out of debt.
Sam sometimes worked, but never
for very long. He always found some
excuse for leaving place within a
few days. He could almost always
find another job easily enough, for he
was an excellent ''hand" when he
chose to be-but he did not hasten
about findings new job when he had
given one up; not until they were
reduced to the very last straits could
Mat get him 10 hunting work again.
One day, Sam left home fora ranch
about thirty-tive miles distant, where
he heard they wanted help. Two days
| passed-threc-fo -four-fve-an NC
word came from him. Mat was not a
a little worried, although Sam had
often been away for two weeks at {
time without sending word TO her
But this time it was different; ther,
was 10 excuse for his not sending
message, as the stage came by thu
ranch he had gone TO three times
week. Ii he had found work there
as he expected, he could easily hav,
could easily have notified her. So
late in the afternoon os the fifth day
she threw her shawl over her head an,
went down to her fathers to fiud i
they bad heard anything of Sam.