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EXCAVATING
A HUSBAND
BY
Ella Bell Wallis
THE McLEAN COMPANY
Publishers
BALTIMORE, MD.
Copyright
1916
Ella Bell Wallis
EXCAVATING
A HUSBAND
Katherine Boulby had reached her fiftieth year,and all these years had been spent in single blessedness.It is true that she had not realized theentirety of the perfect calm and peace thatabides in the maiden state, for her brotherJoseph and she lived together. But Miss Katherine—asshe was commonly called in her nativetown—was of a cheerful disposition andsaid that she felt she was indeed blessedamong women, as she had graciously beenendowed with sense enough to choose a freeand unfettered life, and the vexations and limitationscontingent upon the proximity of one of themale sex, had been mitigated as much as possiblefor her as her brother was a quiet, fairly pliantman who rarely interfered with her plans forbroadening and enriching her mind.
This mental culture was Miss Katherine’s chiefaim in life, and it was not a selfish one. She neverrefused to give abundantly of her knowledge, andever strove to correct and purify the literary andartistic tastes of her friends. It would be quite[Pg 2]impossible to state upon what lines Miss Katherinepursued her mental cultivation, for, like the greatgeniuses, she was extremely versatile, and in almostevery subject she described an avenue which,if followed to the end would lead at last to thegoal whither she was bound. As Miss Katherinestrayed from one path to another in the great labyrinthof learning, it is very probable that she wasinextricably lost and didn’t know it. But shefound pleasure and sustenance therein, and neversought to find herself.
Now, it is far from my purpose to represent myheroine as a blue-stocking or as other than a mostcharming person. Had she pursued her studiesmethodically and scientifically she might not havebeen the same delightful woman that she was, butshe flitted from romantic prose to didactic poetryand from poetry to astrology, and thence to architecture,history or biology. In Miss Katherineyou found a person who possessed a rare instinctconcerning hobbies. She never became so abstruseas to be unintelligible to her friends whowere not hobbyists. She dealt in intere