The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1900-05-09
WHEN HE MARRIED.
SUSAN BROWN RoBBrNs.

The postmaster smiled little when
he passed out the mail, but Luther Will
kins did not notice. He was trying to
remember whether it was yeast cake
or pound of cheese he was to get at
the store.
He went out of the postoffice still
pOndering, and ended by forgetting
both articles, his attention being di-
verted blythe sight of two boys playing
marbles on the sidewalk. This was the
first sign of spring Luther had seen, so
it was no wonder his memory played
him false.
After he had gone home and eaten
his supper he thought of the mail in
his overcoat pocket. He brought it to
the table and sat down to examine it.
There was the weekly county paper, a
poultry journal, an agricultural month
ly, aud, last of all, letter.
We'll, now" said Luther picking it
up, 81 wonder who has been writing
to me, don't know when I've had a
letter."
He looked at it eagerly, held it rearer
to his eyes, then farther off. He re-
moved his glasses, and then polished
them in nervous haste. After replacing
them on his nose he picked up the
letter again and scanned it narrowly;
then he looked over his glasses as if at
some person and then said:
81 swump'
lie sank into q reverie, out of which
he reused himself with a start to study
the envelope with renewed interest.
"Mrs. Luther Wilkins" he said,
Mrs. Luther wilkins. And an old
bachelor who never so much as hardly
thought of getting married! Mrs.
Luther Wilkinsl Why, where is she !?
And who is she?"
"Well, / guess I'll see what's in it."
He inserted the point of his knife
under the corner of the envelope fiat;
then he hesitated.
"What business have l opening her
letters?" he asked himself. al never
did open other folks letters, and 1
guess won't begin nowr'
He rose to his feet, and, carrying it
to the mantel piece, leaned it up against
the clock.
He settled himself to his papers, but
thoughts of Mrs. Luther wilkins kept
intruding on what he was reading
about patent nest-boxes, aud under
draining and the news Of the village.
Thereafter, during all his waking
hours, Mrs. Luther Wilkins was often
in his thoughts. He wondered what
she was like, and he thought of the
kind of woman he would wish her to
be, and enjoyed himself very much in
imagining how Il would seem to have
her meet him at the door when he
came in from the fields, and how nice
it would be not to have to get his own
meals.
At first he was little cynical and
told himself that the imagining was
much more satisfactory than the reali-
ty would be, but after awhile he chang
ed his mind, and would sigh heavily
when he came into his dreary lone
some house.
The letter by the clock, too, began to
trouble him. He had devouring curl
osity to see what was in it; and besides
it did not seem right TO keep it so long
before delivering it.
One evening ia June, Luther put on
his best clothes and walked three miles
To see an old schooImate who had an
unmarried cousin living with him. 1t
seemed to him that Eliza Elliot fitted
in exactly with his idea of Mrs. Luther
Wilkins.
He came home quite early, very
much disappointed. Eliza wouldn't
do al all.
He worked doggedly for a month,
trying hard not to think of the disquiet-
ing subject. 1t was no use; and towards
the end Of July it was observed that
Luther was becoming very neighborly.
He spent evenings at different neigh
bOrs' houses, he accepted invitations to
tea, and went to church regularly and
to all the Sunday-school picnics-
And yet he cJuld not find suitable
owner for the letter.
81 must be terribly fussy," he sighed.
'pve got acquainted w;1h about all the
women in town; they're nice women,
every one of them, but somehow they
don't suit me. guess I'll have to give
up beat"
1t ives one cold, raw day in early No
vember that Luther sat at a window
making clumsy attempts at mending a
pair of very ragged socks Happening
TO glance across the street he saw q
woman out in Hammond's yard. She
was very busy raking up the fallen au-
tumn leaves.
"Letitia Hammond Luther conn
mented. "Bill Hammond's sister. We
don't see much finer lately. She don't
even go to church; there's so many OF
Bills children to look after, and Bill's
wife is SO taken up with her clubs and
things It's hard on Letitia, but she
never finds word Of fault.n
The sock he was mending fell to the
noor, and the wooden egg inside Il
struck with such loud bang that the
cat started from his sleep.