Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1892-12-14
MATS HUSBAND.
Bi r. l.. KETCHUM.

She doubtless had u woman's reason
for marrying fiM. That kind OF res
SON may not satisfy other people, but
it is invariably sufficient for the femi.
nine reasoncr.
Sam Toms was what is called
"wuthless" by his Texan neighbors
Old Bill Bum, his father-in-law, him.
self not very energetic or uscfu
citizen, used to sit Oh the steps at tho
crossroads store and publicly bewai
his sad lot in having Sam for men,
ber of his family.
Nominally, Sam was a cowboy Du,
most of the time he would tell you lie
was "jes' layin' off spell, t rest ~
like"
lie had always been Just so-dis,in-
suished for laz.ncss in an easy-goins
communicated nobody expected him
ever to lie 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 marry ing
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-nature
and friendly ways, were the only
points in his favor. Against him
were the points 50 forcibly taken by
his father-in-law, and, also, that he
got drunk whenever he could possibly
do SO, and was, morally, so weak that
any one could easily lead him astray.
How Mat and Sam got along, no
one but Ma. knew. Once in u 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 oftcner than not,
he would "drap in jes' T. take u nip r
two.' aud 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 q maudIin, fearful State
of intoXication, and invent some tale
to account for bis condition and the
disappearance of ms money, winding
up with the promise never to let it
happen again. And Mat would pre-
lond that she believed him, and would
stroke his curly head until lie fcI,
asleep. Then she would look at the
handsome scamp for a few minutes
with love unutterable in her eyes--the
lircd eyes back Of which were a world
Of uhshcd tears. But she never COM
plaincd--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 Mt tho saloon, and 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. Aud,
besides these things, to live--how did
they do it? 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. lie 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 10 be--but no did not hasten
about finding new job when he had
given one up: not until they were
reduced TO the very last straits could
Mat get him TO hunting work again.
Ono day, Sam left home fora ranch
about thirty-five miles distant, where
he heard they wanted help. Two days
passed three four-tlve--and no
word came from him. Mat was not u
little worried, although Sam had
often been away for two weeks at a
limo without sending word to her.
But this time it was different; there
Vas no excuse for his not sending a
message, as the stage came by the
ranch he had gone to three times a
week. IL he had found work there,
as he expected, hc could easily have
could easily have notified her. So,
late IN tho afternoon of the fifth day,
she throw her shawl over her head and
went down to her fathers 10 find if
they had heard anything of Sam.
The old fellow was standing In the
doorway talking to a couple of slran-