Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1922-03-25


/ drive and Martin said to the fat man
in it:
MIR Bates, / want to make YOU ac-
Quainted with my wife :"
PLEASED to meet you. Mrs Lloydi 2"
| said tie fat man, pleasantly Martin
/ told Cherry, when they passed him.
/ that that was the superintendent Of
/ tie mine. and seemed pleased at the
encounter Presently Martin pat his
I arm about her and the bay horse dav-
died along at his own sweet VIII, while
| Martins deep voice told his wife over
and over again how adorable and beau
tiful she was and how he loved her.
/ Cherry listened happily. and for a
little while the old sense Of pride and
! achievement came back-she was mar
ried; she was wearing plain golu
ring! But after a few days that feel
ing vanished forever and instead it
began to seem strange to her that
she had ever been anything else than
! Martins wife.
For several days she and Martin
laughed necessarily and praised each
other necessarily. while they expert
mented with cooking and ate delicious
gypsy meals.
BY midwinter Cherry had settled
down 10 the business of life, buying
bacon and lard and sugar and matches
at the store Of the mine, cooking and
cleaning, sweeping. and making beds
| She still kissed Martin EoOd-by every
morning and met him with an alfec-
tionate rush at the door when he came
home, and they played Five Hundred
evening after evening after dinner
/ quarreling for points and laughing st
| each other while rain Sluiced down on
| the porch But sometimes she won
dered how it had all come about, Won
dered what had become Of the violent
| emotions that had picked her out of
the valley home and established her
here, in this strange place, with this
man She had never seen a year ago
OF these emotions little was left.
She still liked Martin, she told her
self, and she stlll told him that she
loved him. But she knew she did not
love him. and in such an association
as theirs there can be no liking. Her
thoughts rarely rested on him; she
| was either thinking of the prunes that
were soaking, the firewOod that was
| running low, the towels that a wet
breeze was blowing on the line or
she was far away, drifting in vague
realms where feelings entirely strange
to this bare little mining camp and
this hungry, busy commonplace man,
held sway
The first time that she Quarreled
with Martin she cried for an entire
day, with the old childish feeling that
somehow her crying mattered some
how her abandonment would help to
straighten affairs, The cause OF the
| quarrel was a trifle; her father had
sent her a Christmas check and she
Immediately sent to San Francisco
shop for a clock that had taken her
| fancy months before.
Martin, who had CHANGED to be
pressed for money, although she did
not know It, was thunderstruck upon
discovering that she had actually dis
posed Of fifty dollars so lightly. For
several days a shadow hung over their
| intercourse, and when the clock came,
az large as a banjo, gilded and quaint,
he broke her heart afresh by pretend
| ing not to admire 1t.
But on Christmas eve he was de-
layei at the mine and Cherry, smitteu
suddenly with the bitterness Of having
their first Christmas spoiled IN this
way, sat up for him, hldded in her
silk wrapper by the air-dght stove.
Sic was awakened by feeling herself
lowered tenderly into bed and raised
warm arms to clasp his neck and they
kissed each other.
The next day they laughed at the
| clock together, and after that peace
| reigned for several weeks But il was
inevitable that another quarrel should
come and then another; Cherry was
young and undisciplined, perhaps not
| more selfish than other girls of har
age. but self-centered aud uurea90n-
able She had 10 leQru self control
and she hated to control herself Size
had TO economic when poverty pos
sessed neither pIcturesqueness nor i'm
terest They we're always several
weeks behind In the payment Of o.
nestle bills. ana these recurring r.
miudere Of money stringeucy mad
dcned Cherry. Sometimes She sumped
it up. with angry tears, reminding hin
that she was still wearing her trous
seau dresses, and had no maid. and
never went anywhere,
But she developed steadily AS size
grew sklful In managing her little
house. She also grew IN the art of
managing her husband and herself
She became clever az avoiding causes
Of disagreement. she listened, nodded
, agreed. wifh boiling heart, and bad
the satisfaction oe having Martins
| viewpoint yeer the next 5ay " the
next boar, 70 meet her own secret
| conviction Martin seemed satisfied
and 8I their Ilete world accepted her
81 q matter o. course Bur under n
all Cherry knew that something youag