The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1892-12-24
MATS HUSBAND.

She doubtless had a woman's reason
for marrying him. That kind of reason
may not satisfy other people. but it is ip-
variably sufficient for the feminine rea-
soner.
Sam Toms was what is called 4wuth-
less" by his Texan neighbors. Old Bill
Bum, his father-in-law, himself not a
very energetic or useful citizen, used tc
sit on the steps at the crossroads store
and publicly bewail his sad lot in having
Sam for a member of his family. Bill
had a dramatic style of delivery that
was very fetching, and invariably i'm.
pressed strangers as being very much in
earnest.
He would sit on the steps. silently
chewing an enormous mouthful of to-
bacco and apparently listening to the
conversation of his coloafers. If Sans
name was mentioned he would give vent
to four or five little f~alsetto squeaks,
which found egress through his nose:
then he would draw in a long breath.
puff out his fat cheeks, purse his mouth,
and give a heavy, whistling sigh; this
would be followed by a large quantity
Of tobacco juice, carefully aimed al
some object in the vicinity. These pre-
liminaries accomplished, Bill would rise
to his feet, thrust one fat, dirty hand
into his shirt front, wave the other in a
sweeping gesture as he lowered his eyes
and rolled his head sadly from side to
side, and deliver himself profoundly aft
er the following fashion,
"Ah-hum! That Sam Toms is TIL
LATEST, mos shifless- o'nery, trihin cuss
l eve sedan yere I've done got i'm
FIR a son-'n-lawr. Hm-hm-hmt' Another
whistling sigh would close this perora-
ton. and old Bill would resume his seat,
still shaking his head s~orrowfully.
And Bill was more than half right.
Nominally Sam was a cowboy, but
most of the time he would tell O he
was "jes' layin off a spell, t rest up like.
He had always been just so-distin-
guished for ~laziness in an easy going
community-and nobody expected him
ever to be otherwise. and it puzzled peo-
pie immensely when energetic, capable
Matte Bum accepted him for s.reg'lar
comply" 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
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 SO forcibly
taken by his father-in-law, and also that
he got drunk whenever he could posi-
bly, do SO, aud was morally SO weak that
any n could 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 a
few dollars. If he got home with it
without stopping at the saloon, well and
good. But oftener thar 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 in a maudlin.
fearful state of i~ntoxication, and invent
some tale to account for his condition
and the disappearance of his money,
winding up with the promise V to
let it happen again.
And Mat would pretend that she be-
lieved him, and would stroke his curly
head until he fell asleep. Then she
would look at the handsome scamp for
a few minutes with love unutterable in
her eyes-the tired eyes back of which
were a world of unshed tears. But she
never complained-not the first word:
the firm set mouth and weary look
might indicate ever so much. but her
lips expressed it. And Sam grad
ually grew more and more useless and
shiftless, trusting to his wife's ready wit
and fertility of esource 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 Mat found some means
to pay the d~ebts-only herself knew
how. But the second time she informed
saloon man that he must trust Sam
more. And, besides these things, to
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. He always found some ex-
for leaving "A place within a few