The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1892-12-17
MATS HUSBAND.
No One But Herself Knew Why
She Loved Him.

nine reasoner.
Sam Toms was what is called "wuth-
less" by his Texan neighbors. Old Bill
Bum, his father-in-law, himself not a
very energetic or useful citizen, used
to sit on the steps at the cross-road
store and publicly bewail his sad lot in
having Sam for a member of his fami-
ly. Bill had a dramatic style Of de-
livery that was very fetching, and in
variably impressed 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 co-loafers. If Sans
name was mentioned, he would give
vent to four or five little falsetto
squeaks, which found egress through
his nose; then he would draw in long
breath, puff out his fat checks, purse
his mouth, and give heavy whistling
sigh; this would be followed by large
quantity of tobacco juice, carefully
aimed at some object in the vicinity.
These preliminaries accomplished, Bill
would rise to his feet, thrust one fat,
dirty hand into his shirt front, wave
the other in sweeping gesture as he
lowered his eyes and, rolled his head
sadly from side to side, and deliver
himself profoundly, after the following
fashion:
"Ah--huml That Sam Toms is tn
LATEST, mos shif'less, o'nery, triflin
cuss ever sedan yere I've done
got 'im f'r a son-'n-lawr. Hm-hm-hml'
Another whistling sigh would close this
peroration. and old Bill would resume
his seat, still shaking his head sorrow
fully.
And Bill was more than half right.
Nominally, Sam was a cowboy; but
most of the time he would tell you he
was 'jes' layin' off a spell, Z 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
people immensely when energetic,
capable Matte Bum accepted him for
''reg'lar comp'ny," to say nothing of
the sensation 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 anyone 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 tho pointp
so 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 anyone could
easily lead him astray.
How Mat and Sam got along no one
but Mat knew. Once in 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 than not, he
would 'drap in jes' { take a 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 maudlin, fearful state of in
toxication, and invent some tale to ac-
count for his condition and the disap-
pearance of his money, winding up
with the promise never to let it happen
again. And Mat would pretend that
she believed him, and would stroke his
curly head until he fell asleep. Then
she would look at the handsome scamp
for few minutes with love unutter-
able 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 never expressed il.
And Sam gradually grew more and
more useless and shiftless, trusting to
his wifes ready wit and fertility of re-
source to carry them both over the bad
places
There were lots of bad places, too.
Twice Sam ran into debt several dol
lars at the 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. And, besides these
things, to live-how did they do it2
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 few
days. he could almost always find an
other job easily enough, for he was an
excellent "hand" when he chose to be
but he did not hasten about finding a
new job when he had given one up; not
until they were reduced to the very
last straits could Mat get him to hunt
ing work again.
One day Sam left home for ranch
about thirty-fve miles distant, where
he had heard they wanted help Two
days e-four-fve-and no
word came from him. Mat was not 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; there was no ex-
cuse for his not sending a message, as
the stage came by the ranch lac had