The Kenna record. (Kenna, Roosevelt County, N.M.) 190?-1924, 1912-11-01
AUNT MARTHA REBELS
Sort OF Wife a "Sot" Man Should
Have.
BY CLARENCE J. sTERNEs.

by CLARENCE J. STERNEs.
Farmer Jacob Darwin was getting
ready to go back to the field after a
hearty dinner when the bill-poster's
wagon for a circus drove up and the
man in charge beckoned him down
to the gate and said:
i want to paste six of my posters
on your barn"
Circus, eh?" queried the farmer as
he looked the outfit over.
Yes, and the biggest and best on
the road. I'll give you six tickets
Jacob Darwin was sixty years old
and stern old man. He was upright
and honest, and he flattered himself
that he was just He owed no man a
dollar, and he was kind to his horses
and cows. For years he had lived
up to certain principles, and no one
had known him to depart from them
He was what country people call a
"sot' man, and even the pastor of
his church in the village sometimes
thought he was little too rigid.
Jacob Darwin had the sort of wife
that men of his kind always have
meek and humble and accomplishing.
She stood in awe of him. She has no
opinions to conflict with his. She did
not ask why he did this or that He
permitted her to live on, as it were,
and she was duly grateful.
Il wouldn't have circus pictures on
my barn under no consideration" was
the reply to the offer that had been
made.
Your neighbor down the road don't
see it that way"
It's for my neighbor to see or not
to- see for himself" -.
Suppose we make it three dollars
in cash?"
mo, sir"
81 didn't think there was one OF the
old stock left, but It's your barn and
as we can't trade I'll drive on"
Aunt Martha had stood in the front
door and heard it all. When her hus-
band turned away to his work she
went back to hers. When she had
cleared the table she did a thing that
surprised herself and made her
neighbor wonder if she was going
crazy. She put on her sun bonnet and
walked down the road past the next
house and then stood in the highway
for 30 minutes and gazed at the circus
pictures pasted on the barn. When
she walked slowly home she had some
new thoughts in her mind, and her
thin lips were firmly compressed
So firmly was the neighbors wife
convinced that there was something
wrong with Aunt Martha that she
sneaked over to the field whore Uncle
Jacob was working and told him what
she had seen.
1T can't bel" he gasped.
But it is So"
"Jest stood and looked at the cir
Gus pictures, eh?"
Yes, and never minded mel"
Looked for half an hour, eh?"
Just 29 minutes. l was watching
the clock. Don't you think she's go
ing crazy? Some women are took
that way, I've heard"
UNI Mebbe she is"
Uncle Jacob quit work a little ear,
lier than usual that afternoon, but he
offered no excuses and was asked no
questions, While not seeming to do
So he watched Aunt Martha. He had
been puzzled and troubled over what
he had heard Her actions were the
same as usual, but there was a look
on her face he could not remember
to have seen before. 1t was a grim
half-smile He said nothing touching
the subject until after the table had
been cleared and the chores done up
Aunt Martha had seated herself to
do some patching when he quietly
said:
THAT circus man wanted to put
some pictures on the barn"
"Yes?" she replied. without looking
up.
'T wouldn't let him"