The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1844-03-27
MISCELLANEOUS.
che a9'tfe's Ef,reat.
"IF MY HUSBAND WERE TO DO so.'
A Domestic Incident.

look at her. On! II must be one OF the most
heart rending things in the world to have
drunken husband.''
"Well, all I've got TO say" spoke up Mrs.
Peters, with warmth, sis, that don't pity her
much"
why, Mrs. Peters! How can you talk
SOL"
"Well, don't. Any woman who will live
with drunken husband don't deserve pity
Why don't she leave himl''
That is easier said than done, Mrs. Pc
ters."
Il should think it a great deal easier to
leave than to live with a drunken brute, and
have her life tormented out of her. If my
husband were to do so, | reckon he and
would part before twenty-four hours
Now Mrs. Peters husband was most ex-
cellent man-and a sober man withal. And
his wife was tenderly attached TO him. In re-
gard to lis ever becoming drunkard, she
had as little fear as of his running off and lea
wing her. STILL when she made the last remark
she looked towards him for he was presently
with a stern and significant expression on her
countenance. This was not really meant for
him, but for the imaginary individual she had
supposed as bearing the relation towards her
of a drunken husband.
"You would, would you :" Mr.. Peters re-
piled to the warmly expressed resolution ut
| tered by his wife.
Yes, that wouldl' half laughingly and
half seriously retorted Mrs. Peters.
"You don't know what you are talking
about spoke Mrs. Grimes.
'Indeed then, do consider any wo-
man fool who will live with a drunken hus-
band For my part, | have not spark of
/ r. Il, I
those who live with the men who beggar and
abuse them. Mere disgusting brutes-the
very sight of whom ought to turn a woman's
stomach"
"You were never placed in such a situation.
and therefore are not competent to decide how
far a woman who continues to live with a
drunken husband is or is not to blame. For
nv part. | am inclined to think that, in most
cases, TO live with husband under these cir
cumstances, is least of two evils"
This was said by Mrs. Pitts.
81 think YOU are right there resumed Mr..
| Peters "A woman feels towards her own
! husband, the father of her children, and the
man who in lfe's spring time won her best
and purest affections, very differently from
what she does towards another man. She
knows all his good qualities. and remembers
how tenderly he has loved her, and how he
would still love her but for the mad infatua-
ton from which hefeels it impossible to break
away. The hope that he will reform never
leaves her. When she looks at her children,
even though abused and neglected, she can
not but hope for their father. And this hope
keeps her up.
"Anv woman is fool to feed herself up
with such fancies. There is only one true
remedy and that is separation. That's what
I'll do, and every woman of sense ought to
do. Don't tell me about hope of reforming
It's all nonsense. You wouldn't catch me
breaking my heart after that fashion, for any
man. Not L." said Mrs. Peters.
The more Mrs. Grimes, and Mrs. Pitts
and others present argued their side of the
question, the more pertnacIousy did she
maintain the position she had assumed, unit
Mr.. Peters could not help feeling somewhat
yexed and some little hurt. He being her hus
} band, and the only one who could possibly
: hold the relation towards whom all her indig.
: nation was drected-under the imaginable
possibility Of his becoming tippler.
After while the subject was dropped, anc
| at the close of the evening, the friends separa
} ted and went to their homes.
twas. perhaps two months from the perio6
at which this conversation occurred, that Mr.
Peters left his home early in the evening, II
attend political meeting, politics at the tint
running high, and hard cider flowing as freel,
as water. He was in the habit of attendin.
such meetings, and of partaking of his portion
of the cider, and at times something stronger
but as he was sober man, too. OF strong GOO
sense and firm principle, the thought of hi
ever partaking too freely, never crossed tn
mind of his wife.
2 Regular in his habits, he was rarely out at
ter ten O'Clock, on any occasion. But TIL
time, ten came and eleven, but he was still
away This was a circumstance so unusual
that his wife could not help feeling degre
of uneasiness. She went 10 the door and lis
: tened for him, after the clock struck eleven
q and stood there for some time, expecting eve
: ry moment to hear the sound Of his footstep
4 in the distance. But she waited in vain, ant
at last re-entered the house with troubles
= feeling.
q At last the clock struck twelve, and almos
II at the same time she heard her husband at tn
: door. endeavoring to open it with dead-latc
. key. In this he was not successful, iron
. some cause, and thinking that she might hav
turned the key, Mrs. Peters went quietly an
;, opened the door for him. She found that sh
had not locked it.
, As she lifted the latch, the door was sudden
!, " against her, and her husband came stagger
= Ing in. As he passed her, he struck agains
the wall of the passage-rebounded-
:, tbe other side, and then fell heavily upon tn
# floor.
. The dreadful truth instantly flashed upo
n her He was drunk. For moment her heal
J. ceased to beat, her head reeled, and she the
IS had to lean against the wall to keep from fall
! ing. Then all the tender emotions of her heal
rushed freely into activity. 1t was her ow
husband who lay before her overcome by tn
master spirit of strong drink.
e With almost superhuman strength, sh
: raised him up, although large man, and sup
n ported him with her arm, until she got him
v stairs, and laid him upon the bed. By thi
y time. he seemed perfectly stupid; and onl
]. mumbled incoherent replies to the frequer
and tender opportunities Of bis wife.