Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1857-02-12
Nllscellol1eoiis.
THE FIRST QUARREL.
BY VIRGINIA F. TOWNSEND.

Oh! man may bear with suffering; his heart
Is strong thing, and godlike in The grasp
IOfpain that wrngs mortality; but tear
One ch ord affection clings 10, par; one tie
That binds him Ito woman's delicate love,
And his great spirit y.eldeth like a reed.
| N. P. WILLIS.
s'To think he would have said that;
in such a tone, too, and have not been
his wife but six little months!'' And a
deeper shadow drifted over the beauti-
fal face; the small, rosy fingers toss ed
back with a petulent motion the brown
curls that flowed over her cheeks, and a
fresh flood of tears poured from the soft
eyes.
Those bright, bitter tears, they looked
strangely out of keeping with all the
surroundings of the Eeung wife. The
pale Light of lEhe WfiIsef day came through
the damask curtains, and filed the taste
fully furnished room with a rosy spring
like glow The fire curled with its
thousand bright serpentine tongues up
the black mouth of the chimney, and as
Ellen Howard sat there in its shine, it
seemed as if only happy thoughts could
find nesting place in a heart around
which so many of earth's blessings clus-
tered.
But that day for the first time shad-
ow had drifted across her married life;
it had originated in some trivial matter,
but the ncthation of the wife and the
opinion of the husband had been brought
in collision, and after considerable pout-
ing, and an angry remark from Ellen,
which she would the next moment glad
ly have recalled, Henry Howard had
spoken pcremptorily, almost angrlly,
to his young wife, and left the house:
She was the only ''hearth flower of
the home whence he had transplanted
her, and she had been nurtured in an
atmosphere ofloye and kindness, such as
little Strengthens the spirit for the trials
and the strife, which, sooner or later, all
must encounter.
Henry Howard loved his young wife
with an intensity of affection which
strong, proud natures such as his can
alone feel; but she never dreamed where
her brown head rested against the heart
whose every pulse throbbed with love
for her which it is seldom the lot of
woman to receive, that strong will, and
resoluteness of purpose, which no circum-
stances had evolved to her perception,
might for time hold in subj ugation even
love for herself.
"He shall not see how his remark
panied me; will VIII away these tears,
and he shall never dream [ have shed
any," said Mrs. Howard, rising up, and
pacing her parlor with flushed checks
and an unsteady step. ~ will meet him
with cold politeness on his return, and
he shall learn that Ellen Howard is not
child whom he can order at his will
Oh! Henry, Henry! to think, the tears
were dashed away, and the rising sob
hastily swallowed down, but a very
bright vision in the past had evoked
them.
"Well, L suppose I did speak rather
hastily to Nellie, this noon, and / feel
half like calling myself scoundrel for
it." soliloquised the young merchant, as
he paced a small room situated at one
end of his large building, that afternco
with an distracted air and troubled brow
II dare say the poor child sits there al
alone, feeling as if her heart was almost
broken, but--hang it! her remark touched
my feelings at a point where they are
most sensitive, and the words had passed
J my lips before was aware of it. 1 ough
!; to remember, too, how I took her (bles
her sweet little selfD from a home wher
never a stern or angry word had neve
met her ear, and how I told, on tina
, night when she lifted her blue eyes s.
trustingly to me, and laying her littl
t hand in my own, promised to be mine
. that would gnard her from the yer.
shadow of evil, that her happines
should be far dearer to me than tn
t life which would be nothing withou
i her.
S "And now, when she has been tn
:, sunshine of my home for nearly 81
months. Ihave-Hcnry Howard your