Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1858-12-10
VOL. XII.
THE WO WIVE s.
nv urTTv zoIynKE

! The tea things were removed. the chill
| dren had gone 10 bed, and Charles Lighte,
throwing down bis newspaper, seated him
/ self on the sofa beside his wife. A hand
slid into his, thinner, and less delicate than
when years ago. il had first met bis; but the
same coniding, loving hand-and out OF the
fullness Of her heart the good wife spoke:
| al have been thinking, Charles, as watch
ed this bright freight fickering over our
comfortable room, how happily we live;
how much we ought to do for others in re-
turn for the blessings that are daily heaPed
upon our heads"
| axes, Carrie, bat these blessings are
earned by daily labor; you women sit at
heme by your comfortable fire, and little
think how your husbands and fathers are
:oiiing meantime to procure the shelter, and
fuel, and food for which you are SO grateful
| 10 Providence
] An arch smile lighted the still pretty face
as the wife answered: "Ah, and you hus-
bands and fathers enter the orderly house
and eat the well-ceoked, punctual meals,
and play with the neat, well-dressed we'll
| disciplined children, and enjoy the evening
comfort and repose without realizing how
must have toiIed to bring about these quiet
results. might give you practical proofs
of what have asserted, but delight il, hav-
ing you think of home as a place of enjoy
ment and repose. warm sunny harbor after
the storms and chills of the world outside;
therefore / take my own rest when you
take yours. Is not this better than to be
always keeping before you, by help of little
management, the conviction that | am
weary victim. Our interests are mutual,
and feel that the knowledge tina. am
resting adds to your repose-"
Mr.. Ligihe's face glowed with pleasure at
his wife's CANDID. simple, confding words;
she sympathized with and understood him
she only in the great wide world! How
he loved her! How good, and true, and
gentle, she had always been! Thus be
| thought, as they both sat dreaming by the
fireside.
Mrs. Ligthe awoke the first from reverie;
she was not accustomed to waste time in
dreams. "Charles, while think of it, for
forgot it this morning, the white sugar is all
out, tthey had been married a great while,
the transition from sentiment to household
wants was natural for her,) we must have
another barrel"
This brought Charles Ligthe back to the
purpose for which he had thrown aside his
newspaper: "Don't you think Carrie, that
now we have so many children, and they
all so young, we might use brown sugar, in
stead of white1'
"What shall do for company and be-
sides children have as sensitive palates as
we. recollect well how in my childhood
| disIiked course, cheap food''
"And your family are all picures.''
"What. gIuuonsl''
"Oh. no; butif meat is an hour old, or
hreada triffe done, or eggs the least altered,
or pudding is heavy, nothing will do, but
you must procure substitute; the things
are not really bad; many would eat them for
The sake of -eee+erry-..
'.Is there no good from my epicureanism!''
eyes; I am willing to own that no man
in this city has more nutritious and palata-
Bile food on his table than /; but, Carrie the
times are hard, and we must begin TO econ
emze.''
"Now, understand you, you have been
talking with MIR: Murke; thought you meant
to dissolve your co~partnership in the Spring
that man will spoil you with his meanness-"
"I cannot afford TO dissolve yet; my fam
| lily expenses are too heavy. And besides,
/ am not sure but what you call meanness
in Murke, is after all cotnmendable foresight.
Do you remember what spendthrift he
was in his wite's day!"
mo Charles; remember that when we
were lovers, we used to admire his generous,
disinterested conduct. l do not know u
man in Boston whose position was more
truly enviable than his at the time of which
we speak"
"What! besieged by high and low for
| help, never sure of moment at his own
command! Do you call it enviable to be
at every ones beck and call! Was poor
family burnt out, or somebody's fifth cousin
TO be buried, or minister to be admonished
o. supported, or a returning prodgal to
make peace with his family, or a lunatic ta>
ken to the hospital, or city improvement
made, no one could accomplish the object
SO well as Murke."
Sand his pleasure was in his duty; how his
honest face would glow with delight as, in
his boyish days, he walked up and down our
parlor relating the success of some benego-
lent scheme. What pity he could not have
died then; The rough exterior would have
fallen away from strong yet gentle soul,
as beautiful and radiant as any that ever en-
tered Heaven
sBut Carrie, you little enthusiast, what
would have happened to his wife and chill
.dren! Had William Murke died ten years
/ ago, they might have been in the poor
house, for he had not saved a penny then;
| oo1r, fhev u,ill all inhariI
| tunes"
"Oh, Charles you cannot be in earnest;
i the world has npt SO blinded you but you
must feel the wealth in his purse is poor
compensation for the wealth that is fast dy-
ing out of his soul. Think what a cheer
less home-think how his children are neg
lected, how ignorant they are allowed to re-
main of all the courtesies and amenities of
life, and what little scarecrows in appear
ancel"
"Scandal! Carrie; scandal"
"Truth! But truth is as bad as scandal.
That second wife is to be his ruin yet,
mark my prophecy. She has retrenched
until she has scraped all the beauty and poll
ish, and glding--all the treasure and worth
out of his home, and poured them into his
money bags. Is that an advantage! Is
money better than the moneys worth2-
Misery people worship the symbol, and for.
get or neglect the truth it symbolizes."
"You are too hard upon Mrs. Murke; she
brought her husband fifteen thousand dollars
and had right to demand that he should add
his share to the family fund. She is saving
for his Children
"of what advantage will money be. when
they do not know how TO use and enjoy it!
: Wealth only begess vulgarity and ignorance