Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1858-06-04
THE WIFES MISTAKE.

the apartment where her husband sat, I
wholly absorbed in porting over day-books s
and ledgers.
"Those tiresome accounts still" she
exclaimed. "Will you never find time
for anything but business, Ralph ! Have :
you no taste for anything beyond fig
ures p
Margaret ~ but the sadness in the
tone was UNDECIDED, as she continued
ave had such charming evening at
Mrs. C''s, Capt. Hill related many in
teresting incidents of his residence in
Egypt, and Mr. Warren, the famous
young poet, read "Maud" and some of
the most beautiful passages in "Aurora
Leigh" must read to you some OF Rom
ney's Great Thoughts on Duty"
She went hastily to her chamber for
the volume. When she returned her
quiet entrance was unheard by her hus-
band, whose pen was moving along
the most interminable columns Of figures.
With an expression ofimpatience, almost
of scorn, resting on her face, she hastily |
turned away.
"And this is the end Of all my dreams
of marriage" said she on reaching her
room. "He has taste for drudgery.-
His pursuits and tastes are all common
place, and | need, to find those who will
appreciate with me, the books | love,
and the beautiful in art, for which he has
neither eye nor ear. Why did he not
marry a woman who had neither heart
nor mind to be continually unsatisfied 2
In the room she had left, Ralph Hale
sat hour after hour, till his brain was
weary and his eyelids dropped. Then
laying aside his books, he remained a
long time in deep thought.
"God bless my Margaret he prayed,
''and give me strength to hear all things.
Give me power to make her happy"
Putting far away all thoughts Of her
husbands real nobeness of character,
jealousy preserving the memory of every
slight difference in their tastes and pur-
suits. Margaret cherished the spirit of
discomfort, till it embittered every hour
Of her life, and sent suffering she never
dreamed of to the heart of her husband,
who would gladly have sacrificed every
earthly good for her happiness.
n sudden and severe illness came to
her, while Ralph was in a distant city.
One day during her slow recovery, the
aged minister who had baptised her in
infancy, was setting by her side.
"1Iargaret," he said, after steadily
watching her troubled face, ''you are
very unhappy. have seen it a long
time. l should not recognize in you
my once cheerful and happy child May
not know what great sorrow has come
toyou p
Then with sobs and tears she told hin
all her unhappiness.
After short silence the old man SPOKE
again and there was sadness, almos
sternness in his voice. Years ago
Margaret, a wealthy New York mer
chant became involved in speculation
whose failure suddenly took from hin
the accumulated wealth of his years O
commercial enterprise. There were
few years Of weary vain stru gglings t
regain what he had lost, then deep des
pondency, a lingering disease and death
His wife and four children were left pen
niless. The eldest child, boy of six
teen, had finished his preparatory studio
and was about to enter college. BY thi
stroke, he found his prospects for tn
future were clouded; but with a nobl
self-forgetfulness he turned cheerful
into the way fate had marked out 70
him, and walked resolutely in it.
He obtained situation with a mel
chant, who had known his father, wher
his faithfulness and unerring devotion +
his duties, won the confidence Of all VIII
knew him. During the first years of he
widowhood, the mother had taughta pr
vate school for young ladies and it VIZ
the boys highest ambition to relieve ht
ofthis necessity, and give her the re
her feeble health required. Icannot te
you all his privations, his willing sacr
fee of every recreation, his continue
self denial, that he mighl tighten the bu
den OF those so dear TO him.
Year after year, success crowned
efforts. In the village where his moth
had passed the years of her childhoc
and the first years of her married lit
he purchased pleasant residence f
her, and then, a lucrative business beir
opened to him in the West he came her
A tina time Of his arrival here, act
dent revealed to him the fact that Il
widow Of an invalid daughter of o.
whose fortune was, by his fathers advi
risked in that unfortunate speculate
which had so changed his owu life, we
living in extreme poverty. To him tn
are indebted for the pleasant home til
now shelters them, and for the delica
thoughtful ministration of their daily col
fort.
Now, when the commercial world
clouded, and disasters crowd thick a
fast upon him, as upon others, his an
ious thoughts turn TO the mother and s.
fering sister, in the little village hol
whose comfort depends upon him, to t
other lonely freside, to which his CT
slant thoughtfulness imparts its OF
light and to his own home, and the you
wife whose happiness is dearer to
than life. For this Margaret, RAJ
Hale gives his days to incessant toll 6
willingly sacrifices the social pleasures
is eminently fitted to enjoy.
have been in these three homes
With love that is almost reverence,
mother and sister speak his name, &
with full hearts thank Cod for his If