The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-10-14
MiscflldaU.
TEE WlFE's EsEsTAAE.

tie apartment where her husband sat
wholly absorbed in pouring oyer day books
and led gers
Thosf tiresome accounts, still" she
e1c!aimcd. ). Will you never End time
for anythmg beyond figures p
''Iargare' buS the sadness in the tone
was unhrcdcd as she continued
" We had such charming evening at
Mrs. Cs. Captain Hill related many in
tereSting incidents of his residence in
Egypt. anI Mr.. Warren, the famous young
poet read Maud, and some Of the most
beautiful passages in Aurora Leigh |
must read you some Of Romuey'S Great
thoughts On Duty"
She went hastily to her chamber for
thc volume. When she returned ber
quiet entrance was unheard by her hts
band whose r"n was rapidly moving over
tic almost nterminabIe columns ot figures
W;th an expression of inpatieuce. almost
Of seorn. resting on her face, she hastily
turned awav.
And this is the end of all my dreams
Of marriage" said she, as she reached her
A"~~ Il l HAS 4 ls&SLN Ii'i al utI9cIS. I1lS
PURSUITS aud tastes are ali common place,
and must 60 from home 70 find the sym
pathy need, to find those who will ap-
prcciate with rae, the books | love, and
Tie beautiful in art, for which he has
neither eye nor ear. Why aid he not
nsrry woman who had neither heart nor
mind L. be continually unsatisfcJ ?"
IN the room she had left, Ralph Hall
sat hour after hour, till his brain was
weary and his eycids dropped, Then
laying aside his books. he remained
long time in deep tbought.
God bless my Margaret" he prayed,
and give me strength to bear all things.
Give rae power to make her happy"
Putting far away all thoughts of her
husbands real nobeness Of character.
jealousy preserving che memory Of every
slight indifference in their tastes aad pur-
suits, Margaret che. ished the spirit of dis
content till it embittered every hour of
her life, and sent suherings, she never
dreamed of, to the heart of her husband,
who would gladly have sacrificed every
taIthIy goou TOT nCF naTplnCSS.
A sudden and severe illness came to
her, while Ralph was in distant city
One day during her slow recovery, the
aged minister, who had baptised her in
infancy, was sitting by her side.
Margaret" he said, after steadf2stly
watching her face, "you are very unhap-
py, have seen it long tine, | should
not recognize in you my once cheerful and
happy child. May not know what sor-
rows have come to you 2"
Then, with sobs aud tears she told him
all her unhappiness.
After a short silence, the old man
spoke again and there was sadness, al
most sternness in lis voice.
"Years ago, Margaret, wealthy New
York merchant became involved in
speculation, whose fail IRE suddenly took
from him the accumulated weai5L OF his
years of commercial enterprise. There
were few years of weary, vain struggling
to regain what he had lost; then deep
despOndency, a lingering disease aud
death. His wife and four children were
left penniless. The eldest child, boy OF
sixteen, had finished his preparatory stud
les, and was about to enter college. By
this stroke he found bis prospects for the
future ciouded but with a roble self-for-
getfuness, he turned cheerfully into the
way fate marked out for him, and walked
ycsolutely in it.
He obtained a situation with a mer-
Chant who had known his father, where
his saithfuiaoss and untir;ng devotion to
his duties won the confidence of all who
knew him. During the first years of
her widowhood, his mother had taught
private school for young ladies, and it
was the boys highest ambition to relieve
her of this necessity, and give her the
rest her feeble health required I cannot
tell you all his privations, his willing sac
rifce OF every recreation, his continued
self-denial that he might tighten the bur
6ens of those so dear to him.
Year after year, success crowned his
efforts. In the viI,aCe where his mother
had passed The years OF her married life,
he purchased residence foc her, and then
o lucrative business being opened to him
IN the West, ne came here.
At the time of his removal here, acci-
dent revealed to him The fact that the
widow and invalid daughter OF one whose
fortune was by MS fathers advice, risked
in that unfortunate speculation which
had so changed his own life, were living
in extreme poverty. To him they are
indebted for the pleasant home tnat now
shelters them, and for the delicate,
thoughtful ministration to their daily
comfort.
Now when the commercial world is
clouded. and disasters crowd thick and