Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1893-01-05
MATS HUSBAND.


soner.
Sam Toms was what is called "wutf1-
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 crossroads store
and publicly bewail 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 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 falsetto squeaks,
which found egress through his nose;
then he would draw in long breath,
puff out his fat cheeks, 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 pre-
liminaries 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 aft
er the following fashion:
"Ah-hum! That Sam Toms is tn
LATEST, mos shif'less, o'nery, triflin cuss
| ever sedan yere I've done got i'm
FIR a son-n-lawr. -hm-hmr Another
whistling sigh would close this perora-
ton, and old Bill would resume his seat,
still shaking his head sorrowfully.
And Bill was more than half right.
Nominally Sam was cowboy, but
most of the time he would tell you he
was "jes' layin off 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 'reg'lar
comp'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
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 one 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' t take 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 st-.te 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-
leved him, and would stroke his curly
head until he fell asleep. Then she
would look at the handsome scamp for
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
inltaata 1nt1ph 1,,,t ha,.
lips never expressed it, And Sam grad
ually grew more and more useless and
shiftless, trusting to his 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 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 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-
cuse for leaving a place within a 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 We're reduced to the very last
straits could Mat get him to hunting
work again.
One day Sam left home for ranch
about thirty-tive miles distant, where he
had heard they wanted help Two days
passed. e-four-fve-and no word
came from him. Mat was not 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 excuse for
his not sending a 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 could easily
have notified her So late in the affair