Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1892-12-17

She doubtless had "a ysonIsn's ;feasga,
for marrying him. Thst lSind 'offre;ison
may not satisfy other people, bd1itis in-5
variably sufficient fer the feminine rel
soner. -,
Sam Toms was what scaled "wuth-
less" by lis Texan ncigEbors. Old Bill
Bum, his father-in-law, himself not "a
very energetic,or useful citizen, used 10
sit on the steps at the crossroads store
aud publicly bcwail his sad lot in having
Sam for member of his family. Bill
had dramatic style Of delivery THAT
was very fetching, and invariably i'm
pressed strangers as being very much in
earnest.
He would sit on tho steps. silently
chewing an enormous moutl,ful OF to-
bacco and apparently listening to the
conversation CT his cploafers. Ii Sans
name was mentioned Ire would give vent
to four or five ittlo falsetto sqaeaks,
which found egress through his rose;-
then he would draw in long breath,
puff out his fat cheeks, purse his mouth,
and give a heavy, wilistling sigh; this
woald be followed by large Quantity
of tobacco juice, carefully ri ICED as
some object in the vicinity. These pre-
liminaries accomplished, Bill would lise
to his feet, thrust one fat, dirty hand
into his shirt front, wave the ether ina
sweeping gesture as he lowered mis- eyes
and rolled his head sadly from side to
side, and deliver himself profoundly aft.
er the. following fashion:
"Ah-hunl! That Sam Toms is tn
LATEST, mos shif'less, emery, trifin cuss
l ever sedan yero I've done got I'M
f'r a son-'n-iawr. Hm-hnl-hlnr Another
whistling sigh would close this perora-
ton. and old Bill would resume his seat,
still shaking Lis head sorrowfully.
And Bill was more than half right.
Nominally Sam was q cowboy, but
most of the time he would tell you he
was 'jes' layin of u spell, t rest up ike. =
He had always been Just so-distiii-
guished for laziness in en- easy going
communicated nobody expected him
ever to be otherwise, and it puzzled PEG
pie immensely when energetic, capable
Matte Bum accepted him for ''reg'lar
conp'ny, to say nothing of the sensa-
ton created by their wedding.
Mat, as has been suggested, probably
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
garsisss
managed, no one knew how; to- wear
good clothes too. These facts aud his
perennial good nature and friendly
ways were tie only pointsin his favor.
Against him were the points SO forcibly
taken by his fathcr-in-law, andal that
he got drunk whcnel er he could posi-
bly, do so, aud WIS morally SO weak that
any one could easily lead him astray.
How Mat and Sam agot along no one
but Mat knew. Once in great while
Sam would Go some work and earn
few dollars. If he got bone with it
without stopping at the saloon, well and
good. But oftencr than not he would
'.drap in jes' t. take a nip r two" and
that would settle it. At such times he
would stay and buy drinks for every
body present while his money lasted.
Then he would come home i'll q maudiin,
fearful state of intoxication, and invent
some tale to account for his condition
and the disappearance of his money,
winding up with the promise never to
let it happen again.
And Mat would pretend that she be-
lieved 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 unutterable i'll
her eyes-the tired eyes back of which
were world of unshed tears. But She
never complained-uot the first word;
the firm set mouth and weary look
might indicate ever so much, but her
Inns never expressed it. And Sam grad
ually grew more and more useless and
shiftless, trusting to lis 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 dollars
at the saloon and HAT found some means
to pay the dobts-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
liye-how did they do il? Nobody could
guess. Perhaps even Mat herself coald
not have told, tive they did-or rather
existed-and for the most part kept out
of debt.
Sam sometimes worked, but never for
very long. Ee always found some ex-
cuse for leaving place within a few
days. ;Ee could almost always find an
other JOB easily enough, for hewas an
excellent .shandr when he chose to be,
but he did rot hasten about finding u
new Job when he had givca one up; nos
until they were reduced 10 The very last
straits could Lat get lin TO hunting
work again.
One day Sam left home for ranch
about thirty-fve miles distant, where ne
had heard they wanted l:elp. Two days
Observation-Disclosures 10 word
tanc from him. Mat was NOT ii:Sle
worried, although Sam had often been
away for two weeks ut time without
sending word to her. But this time it /:
was different; there was no ezcGse for
his not sending message, as tie stage
came by the ranch he hal gone 10 three
times a week. II he had foguid work
there, as i.o expected, lie could easily
have notified her. So, late IL the after
neon of the fifth day, she threw. her
shawl over her head and went down %
her fathers to f,!l il they Fad head
anything of Sam.
The cid fellow was standing ii tho
doorway talki'y toa ccID;@of s.araii;;;st'rs;
..No,n be vas sa5f;:::S5, ',tl:eij' hs::D,5
hen no person long yer Las; few days