New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-01-24
THE FIRST AND SECOND MARRIAGE.
Br 3. u. g.,
ArTHOn oy ~ MARRIAGE or cosyEsTKscz," Erc.
CHAPTER I


AS married man, Herbert continued very
much the same as before in society What time
was not given to his profession was spent chiefly
in the gay circle Of which he was favorite and
brilliant ornament, He was very little at home,
as little as he could help. lie was naturally
luxurious, hated small rooms, low ceilings, and
shabby furniture. Hated being waited on by
female servant--in short, hated all the details
of small means. He had been used to them
always, certainly: but that does not reconcile
people any the more to what they don't like.
though those who know nothing of the matter
suppose it does. The houses of the rich were
open to him always, and there were club rooms,
spacious and free, and pleasant avenues, to es-
cape the perpetual remembrance of a limited
income, which his own house forced upon him
His wife did her utmost to win him to love and
home; but she failed.
She had married him against his will, and he
resented it. She was gentle, and loving, and
kind; but she did not crafty his vanity, and he
did not love her the better for eprivations they
were compelled to endure together. She had no
beauty nor mental superiority to supply the
place Of external charms ard he tosh 40 f,ains
to cultivate her tastes, though he felt himself
sacrificed, because they had no sympathies in
common. Cold and careless from the first, he
grew irritable, and often even rude. Heart
stricken and mortified, she tried, poor thing!
every device that affection could suggest to make
home attractive. There was no sacrifice that
ingenuity could invent, to make their little in
come embrace some of the 1uxuries as well as
necessaries of life, that she did not make. His
little household was in the neatest order, and his
table was supplied with delicacies that nothing
but her personal exertion could have secured
with their small means In short, his tastes and
comforts were studied with the most sedulous
care, only to make him more selfish and ex-
acting. '..r
unI ci,a I, 4
upon him with spirit, the effect would have been
better. But that, All inward consciousness pre-
vented Humbled by the conviction, which was
| forced upon her at last, that her husband did
not love, she bitterly acknowledged to herself
| that she should have admitted the fact before
She could not conceal from herself now that
she had married him in spite of his own wishes;
that he had tried to break off and she wouid
not, But for that. an outraged love might have
reused to another cource She would have felt
indignant as well as aggrieyed, and remembered
what she, as Mary Harper, had sacrificed in be-
coming Mrs. Herbert. The deep consciousness,
however, that her husband would gladly have
spared her the sacrifice of becoming his wife,
quenched every spark of womanly spirit. She
scarcely felt herself his equal, and made her.
self his drudge. A fatal error Brilliant as he
was in society, many pitied him for having such
little dowdy wife. Indeed, he pitiel himself
He was eloquent on the subject of s' imperfect
sympathies,' and talked sadly and beautifully
| of life that was 's aimless' There were never
any personal allusions in his remarks, and per-
haps he even did not mean others to apply them );
for he talked from the abundance of a poetical
imagination and discontented mind, which he
I.mistook for the sadness of q heart that knew no
resting place. He had no sense of duty, no
sense OF anything that required sacrifice; only
deep sense of his own gifts, and that, some
how, his destiny had not been fulfilled. 81, r..
Such merits as his wife possessed he did not
appreciate--her patience, her gentleness, her
exertions How she would sew! What rows
and rows of stitching she would put upon his
he noticed at all what she was doing, lie only
thought she liked it Better would it have beer
for him. thousand times, and infinitely better
for her, if his wife had been different woman
Such qualities as she had were worse than
thrown away upon him, for they only spolt him
Had she played the harp and sung, though she
never touched needle. and neglected his COM
forts he mi ght have been sometimes cross, but
he would never have despised her Had he mar
ried Clara Haywood. he would have been bet
ter man: for, in admiring her, he would have
known what was her due. p
Had he heen proud Of his wife, he would have
exerted himself more checrfully in the path OF
duty; and even his small home would have
borne different aspect, had the wife who pre-
But he was growing absolutely ashamed of his
wife, us the consciousness of not pleasing rem
dered her diffident. and consequently awkward
and the little air she had had as Miss Harper
she now lost from her want of intercourse will
society. Nothing tells sooner on u woman's ap.
pearance than a too close application to dones-
tic duties; and, when you add to that a pool
and common wardrobe, a woman must be ele.
giant, indeed, who still retains her air of supe.
riority. The grace that rises superior to cal
leo frock and the kitchen, is truly grace of til,
rarest and finest quality. What then was pool
Marys hope of looking anything but the spirit
less. over-served little drudge that she wasi
The birth of a daughter was vent Mt las
5 for the mothers overcharged heart She loves
she brought no addition of love OF happiness
He turned away almost in disgust from the lit
t tie red thing that squalled so. A girl. too ant
he hated girls Had it been boy, he nigh
have felt some tenderness for the mother, Will
he intulged in pride in his child But u poor
puny, crying little girl took no hold on his heart
&C How you cough, Mary" said her husban,
to her.
f t" Yes she replied, ss / have taken cold''
-" Do take something, then, and stop it. Cam
you'"
! 1t was spoken in impatence, for the sount
, Jared upon his ear There was no tenderness
in the tones no kindness for his wife's sutferin
G that suggested the remark
The child was delicate, and night after nigh
Mary paced the nursery with it in her arms
n trying to soothe its pains, and still the cry sh
: feared might reach its fathers ears. And thu,
the cold, instead of growing better, settled in
= little hacking cough that irritated Mr.. Her
bert's nerves, while it wore out his wife's lungs
She grew daily paler and thinner; but she ut
tered no sound Of complaint, and only when sh
thought of her baby her pale lips quiyered, AM
u the mothers heart rose within her. But sh
i felt that her doom was written down, and sh
e had no spirit to struggle against it.. Her ia
$ ther's family she knew would receive her child
+ and to sisters love she felt she could conid
e it. Her constitution and heart We're alike broken
a and Herbert knew it not ss
u The physician was the first that called his at
y tention to the fact of his wifes failing health
t He was both startled and shocked for there
\ something in the near approach of death tina
n n appalls the most heartless, unloved though tn
y object may be. Herbert was attentive and kin
t now, and would have done all in his power t
y y save her. But it was too late.
Fortunately his sensibiities were not take
long, or he might have felt, with Mr.. Dubste
~ that she was u '' tedious time DYING But /
. had scarce time to rally from the first shock
n received on learning her situation, ere her rapic
D. ly sinking frame told him that the sad story W,
rs near its close Something like remorse w,