Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1847-10-14

part OF tue uay, luIueu Out HuluSSo' +''S"N
found the unhappy wife in an agony of surprise
and alarm Some one at the boarding house
advised her to have an advertisement for her
husband inserted in morning paper. She diu
not hesitate long about this course. In the
morning brief advertisement appeared; and about
nine o'clock man called and asked TO see her.
She descended from her room to the parlor with
a wildly throbbing heart, but staggered forward
and sank into a chair, weak almost as an infant
when she saw that the man was stranger, in
stead of her husband whom she had expected to
meet.
Are you Mrs. Fletcher? he asked.
Il am she family replied.
you advertised for information in regard to
your husband?'
Il did Where is hel Oh, sir, has any thing
happened to himl
mo, ma'am, nothing serious. He has only
been sick for week or ten days; that is the
man refer to has Your husband is a tailorl
is the man you speak Of tailorF eagarly
asked Mrs Fletcher.
He is, ma am; and has been working for me
at No. - Fourth street.
Then he is not my husband, replied the
poor wife, bursting into tears. MY husband is
clerk In the bitterness Of keen dsappolnt-
ment, rendered sharper by doubt and fear, Mrs
Fletcher wept for some minutes. When she
could command her feelings, to some extent, she
thanked the tailor for calling and repeated what
she had said, that the man at his house could
not be her husband.
He is from Cincinnati, ma'am; and goes there
once in'every two weeks. know that he has a
wife and children there said the man.
Still he cannot be my husband, replied Mrs,
Fletcher; for my husband IS not tailor
mo, not in that case, certainly And the
man bowed and withdrew.
All day long the wife waited for some more
satisfactory reply to her advertisement, but no
E father reponse to it was made The call Of
the tailor seemed like mockery of her unhap-
Ply condition.
Night came, and all remained in doubt and
} darkness, and then the mind of Mrs. Fletcher
turned to the visit of the tailor half despairing-
ly, in order to find some feeble CLEAN of hope
Perhaps, she said TO herself as she thought a.
: bout it, there is some mistake. Perhaps it is my
husband after all, and the man is in some error
about his being tailor. As she thus thought
it suddenly flashed through her mind that there
y had been good deal Of mystery made by hel
Il husband about his situation in Cincinnati as
we'll as in Louisville, which always struck her
# as little strange Could it be possible that his
G real business was that of tailor! All at once
r. CD ~, hos
icuarly silent IN regard TO his early history
y Trembling with excitement, she left the houst
u about eight o'clock in the evening, and started
N for the place where she remembered that The
tailor said he lived He was in his shop, ant
l. remembered her the moment she entered
Can | see the man you told me was nance
Fletcher! she asked.
1t yes, ma'am; and sincerely hope there ma
is been some mistake, and that you will find hin
l. to be your husband, for he is very ill and need
TO to be Dursed by careful hand
s. Mrs. Fletcher follow the tailor up stairs, he
heart scarcely beating under the pressure of su.
&c pense. In a small chambeI in the third story
the atmosphere Of which was close, oppressiv
lie and filled with an offensive odor, she was show
lie man lying upon bed. She needed not Sc
cond glance, as the dim light fell upon his pale
~ emaclated face, to decide her doubts. Her hu
d band lay before her. Eagerly she called hi
name, but his eyes did not open. She spoke t
n him again and again, but he did not recognize
even if he heard her voice
s. On nquirlng, she found that he was i'll wit
violent fever, which the doctor said was abor
~ at its criss. This had been brought on, tn
= tailor said, he had no doubt, by too long cont
'e nued labor-he having worked, often, sixtee
le and seventeen hours out of the twenty-four-b
E. that means earning third more wages than an
aIJourneyman in the shop.
Alarmed and troubled as she was, Mrs FletCl
er was utterly COMPOUNDED by all this. She coul
'g not comprehend it, All night she lowered ovt
an the pillow of her husband, giving him medicir
at the proper time, placing the cooling draugI
% to his lips or bathing his hot forehead. FIR
ne quently she called his name, earnestly and ten
nc erly, but the sound awoke no motions in h
"u sluggish mind. Toward morning. she was 81
Nv ting with her face resting against pillow, wht
Nm his voice, speaking distinctly, aroused her fro
er- ly, lost herself In an instant she was leanir
'g- over him, with his name upon her lips II
st. eyes were open, and he looked steadily into h
ry' face. But it was evident that he did not kno
her.
zee Joseph! Joseph! Don't you know me
! ice she said. Il am your wife. am here wi
'n you
eS' Poor Mary = he murmered, sadly, not undo
In- standing what was said If she knew all,
oe would break her heart
W. What would break her hearth quickly ask
III his wife,
ree' Poor Mary She said she would never m;
Ill ry' here the sick mans voice became inartc
nc late.
lie But all was clear to the mind of Mrs. FIetc
er. She remembered how often she had ma
lOL tho fhouchtiouS 80 ,ub;ch bos husINo,