The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-20
BUSTED" BLAKE.
How a Fortune Fell to His De.
serted Widow.

Harken to the tale of how fortune
fell to the widow of Busted" Blake.
The outcome has shown that Busted
was not radically bad. But he wa:
wretchedly weak of will to reject al
opportunity of having another drink
with the boys-or with the girls-ol
with anybody or nobody.
In the days of his ascendencv, wher
he was young and newly-marrieG
architect, he was q buyer of drinks fol
others. Walters in cafes We'd with each
other in showing readiness to take his
orders. He was rated jolly good fell
low then. No one would have supposed
it destined that some fine night leer.
ing bar-room wit should reply to his
whispered application for small loan
by pouring half-glass of whisky upon
his head and saying:
Il hereby christen thee Busted
The title stuck. Blake, through con-
timed impecuniosity, lost all shame OF
it in time; lost, too. his self-respect,
and his wife. Mrs Blake, gentle and
pretty little brunette, had welded him
against the viii of her parents. She had
trusted for his safety, to the allure
ments of his future, which everybody
said was bright, and to his love for her.
The years of fearful nights, the plead
ings the reproaches, the seesaw of hope
and despair, need not here be dwelt
upon. They would make an old story
and some of the details might be shock
ing to the young person. They reached
a elimination one day when she said to
him:
"You love drink better than you love
me. | have done with you"
She was a woman and took woman's
view of the case.
When he came back to their rooms
that night neither she nor his two
weeks old baby girl were there. Then
he knew how much he loved them and
how much he had underestimate his
love.
She did not go to her parents. There
was a very musty proverb that she
knew would meet her on their thresh-
old: "You made your bed; now lie on
it." Her father was man of no orig
inality, hence he would have put it in
that way.
She got employment in photograph
gallery, where she made herself useful
by being ornamental. sitting behind a
desk in the ante-room. l know not
what duties devolve upon the woman
who occupies that post in the average
photographer service; whatever they
are, she performed them, and with the
wages received managed to care for
herself and child.
The next day he made Herculean eff
fort to pull himself together. He OBJ
tanned position as draughtsman from
one who had known him in his re-
spectacle period, and he went trem-
blingIy and sheepishly to call upon his
wife and child.
The consequence of his visit was re-
union, which endured for two whole
weeks. At the end of that time she cast
him off in utter scorn.
How he lived for the next two years
can be known only to those who are IA
miliar through experience with the ez-
istence of people who ask other people
on the street for few cents toward the
price Of nights lodging By those
who knew him he was said to be no
good to himself or anyone else" He
acquired the raggedness. the impu-
dence, the phraseology of the vaga bond
class. He would hang on the edge of
party of men drinking together in front
of bar on the slim chance OF being
counted in" when the question went
round. "whatu you have?' He was
perpetually being impellcd out Of sa-
looms at foot race speed by the officials
whose function it is IN barrooms to
substitute an objectionable persons
room for his company.
One winter Sunday morning he slept
late upon a bench in a public square
Awakened by an officer, he rose to go.
Hazy in head and stiff in joints he
slightly staggered. He heard behind
him the cooling laugh of child. He
looked around 1t was himself that
had awakened the infants mirth-or
that strange something which precedes
the dawn of sense OF humor in chill
dren. The smiling babe was in childs
carriage, which a plainly dressed wom-
an was pushing. He looked at the
woman. 1t was his wife. and the pref
ty child was his own.
He walked rapidly from the place,
and on the same day he decided 10
leave the city. He had herded with
Migrants of the touring class The
methods Of free transportation bv
means of freight trains and free living
by means Of beggary and small thiev-
cry in country towns were no secret 10
him He walked to the suburbs and a..
nightfaIl he scrambled NJ the side OF
coal car ii train slow moving west
ward.
Mrs. Blake and the child lived in a
fair degree OF comfort upon the moth
er's wages, but often the mother skud-
dered at thought OF what might happen
should she ever lose her situation at the
photogra piers
Consumption had its hold on Busted"
Blake when he arrived n the mining
town called Get-there City. Il Kansas.
one evening Get-thsre City had not
gotten there beyond single struggling
street of sfanties. but it had acquired
saloon. although liquor selling had a.
ready been forbidden n hansa>-
"Busaea" Blake. with ter cents = = x
clothes, entered the szIoon and asked