The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1893-01-31
MATS HUSBAND
No Ono But Herself Know Why
sho Loved Him.

for marrying him. That kind Of rea-
son may not satisfy other people, but
II is invariably sufficient for the femi-
nine reasoner.
Sam Toms was what Is called "wuth-
less" by his Texan neighbors- Old Bill
Bunn, his father in-law, himself not a
very energetic or useful citizen. used
to sit on the sters at the cross-road
store and publicly bcwail his sad lot in
having Sam for a member Of his fami-
" Bill had n dramatic style Of de-
livery that was-very fetching, and In
yariably impressed strangers as being
very much lii earnest
He would sit on the steps. silently
chewing an enormous m~ou.hfuf OF to-
bacco and apparently listening 70 the
conversation OF Ills co-loafcrs. II Sans
Dame was mentioned, he would give
vent 70 four or five little falsctto
squcaks, which found cgrcss through
his nose; then he would draw IN a long
breath. pun out his fnt checks, purse
his mouth, and give a heavy whistling
sigh; this would he followed by d large
quantity Of tobacco juice, carefully
aimed III some object In the vicinity.
These preliminaries accomplished, Bill
would rise 10 his feet. thrust n fat,
dirty hand into his shirt front, wave
the other in a sweeping gesture ms he
lowered his yes and rolled his head
sadly from side TO side, and deliver
himself profoundly, after the following
fashion.
"Ah-huml That Sam Toms Is TIL
LATEST mos shif'less, emery, triflin'
russ ! ever sedan ycre I've done
got i'm fr a son-'n-lnwr. Im-hm-hmf'
Another whistling sigh would close this
peroration, and old Bill would fesume
his seat, still shaking his head sorrow
fully.
And Bill was more than half right.
Nominally. Sam was q cowboy; but
most OF the time he would tell you he
was "jes' layins on q spell, Z rest mp
like"
He had always been just so-distin-
gnished for iaziness 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.
sreglar comply" to say nothing Of
the sensation created by thAir wedding.
Mat, rs 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 the points
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 n
but Mat knew. Once In a great while,
Sam would do some work and earn a
few dollars. II he got home with 1t
without stopping at the saloon, well
and good. But, oftener than not, he
would 'sdrap in jes' Z take o 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 n maudlin, fearful state of I'M
~toxication, and invent some tale TO ac-
count for his condition and the disap-
pearancc of his money, winding up
with the promise mover 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 you'd look at the handsome scamp
! for d few minutes with love unutter-
able in her cycs-the tired eyes back
ST which were d world OF unshed tears.
But she never complained-not the
6rst word; the firm-set mouth and
weary look might indicate ever SO
much, but her lips never expressed it.
And Sam gradually grew more and
more useless and shiftless, trusting TO
his wifc's ready wit,aud fertility Of re-
source to carry them both over the bad
places
There We're lots Of bad places, too.
Twice Sam ran into debt several dol
lars at the saloon, and Mat found some
means I 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 liye-how did they do it?
Nobody could guess. Perhaps ven
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
Tor very long. He always found some
excuse for leaving a place within afew
days. He could almost always find an
other job easily enough, for he was an
excellent thand'' 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 q ranch
about thirty-fiye miles distant, where
he had heard they wanted help. Two
days assed-three-four-fve-and no
word came from him. Mat was not a
little worried, although Sam had often
been away for two weeks at a time
without sending word to her. But this
time it was different; there was no ex-
cuse for his not sending q message, as
the stage came by the ranch he had
gone to three times a week. If he had
found work there, as he expected, he
fcould elsily have notified her So, late
in the afternoon Of the fifth day she
tthrew her shawl over her head and
went down to her fathers, Il find II
they had heard anything Of sam
The old fellow was standing in the
DOORWAY t~alxinp To a couple Of