The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1858-09-18
From the National
THE WIFE'S MISTAKE.

THE WIFE'S MISTAKE.
The carriage stopped at the door and /.
a few minutes, Margaret Hall, entered the
department where her husband sat, wholly
absorbed in pouring over day-books and
fledgers.
sThose tiresome accounts still,' she ex-
claimed. sWill you never find time for
anything but business, Ralph? Haye you
no taste for anything beyond figures p -.
'Margaret,' but the sadness in the tone was
unheeded as she continued .+F ".*s
Hye had-suc charming evening at Mrs.
C's. Capt. Hill related many interesting
incidents Of his residence in Egypt, and Mr..
Warren, the famous young poet, read
sMaud,' and somo of the most beautiful
passages in sAurora Leigh must read to
you some Of Romney's .Great Thoughts on
Duty
She went hastily to her chamber for the
volume. When she returned her quiet en-
trance was unheard by her husband, whose
pen was rapidly moving over the almost
interminable columns of figures. With an
expression OF patience, almost Of scorn,
resting on her face she hastily turned away.
6 'And this is the end Of ali my dreams of
marriage said she, rs she reached her
room. 'Iie has . taste for drudgery.- His
pursuits and tastes are all commonplace, and
| must 60 from home to find the sympathy
need, to find those who will appreciate, with
me, the book love, and the beautiful in
art, for which he has neither eye nor ear.
Why did he not marry n woman who had
neither heart nor mind to be continually un-
satistied:' r.e -. ....-z - -- -
In the room she had left, Raj ph HALL sat
hour after hour, till his brain was weary
and eyelids dropped. Then laying aside his
books, he remained long time in deep
thought.
'God bless my Margaret he prayed, sand
give me strength to hear all things. Give
me power to make her happy
Putting away all thoughts of her husbands $
real nobleness of character, jealousy pre-
serving the memory of every slight difference
in their tastes and pursuits. Margaret cher
ished the spirit Of discomfort, till it embit-
tered every hour Of her life, and sent suffer
ing she never dreamed of, to the heart of her
husband, who would gladly have sacrificed
every earthly good for her happiness.
A sudden and severe illness came to her
while Ralph was in Il distant city. One day
during her slow recovery, the aged minister
who had baptised her in infancy, was sitting
by her side. .s.5.
'Margaret,' he said, after stcadfastly
watching her troubled face, you are unhap-
py. have seen it long time. | should
not recognize in you my once cheerful, hap
py child. May not know what great sor-
row has come to you?'
Then, with soos and tears, she told him
all her unhappiness.
Nfter a short silence, the old man spoke
again, and there was sadness, almost stern
ness in his voice. Years ago, Margaret, a
wealthy New York mcrchitnLs became inv ov-
ed in speculation, whose failure suddenly
took from him the accumulated wealth of
his Years of commercial enterprise. Tfcrs
were few years of weary, vain struggling
to regain what he bad lost; then deep de-
spondency, lingering disease and death.-
His wife and four children were left penu
less. The eldest child, a boy Of sixteen, had
finished his preparatory studies, and was
about to enter college. By this shock, he
had found his prospects for the future
Iclouded; but with noble seIf-forgetfulness
he turned cheerfully into the way marked ou,
for him, and walked resolutely in il. -r
'lle obtained Il situation with n merchant
who had known his father, where his fuith-
tfulne.s and untirins devotion to his duties,
won the confidence Of all who knew him
During the first year of her widowhood, his
mother had taught private school for the
young; and it was the boys highest ambition
to relieve her of this necessity, and give her
the rest her feeble health required. l can
not tell you all his privations, his willing
sacrifice of every recreation, his continued
self denial, that he might tighten the burdens
of those SO dear to HIM. ss e.
'lear after year, success crowned his ef-
forts. In the village where his mother had
passed the years of her childhood and the
first years of her married life, he purchased
a pleasant residence for her, and then, a
lucrative business being opened to him in
the West, he came here.
Sat the time Of his removal here, acciden!
revealed to him the fact that the widow and
invalid daughter of one whose fortune was
by his fathers advice, risked to that unfor.
tunatc speculation which had changed his
own life, were living in extreme poverty
To him they are indebted for the pleasan,
home that now shelters them, and for the
delicate, thoughtful ministration to their
daily comfort.
clouded, and disasters crowd thick and fast
upon him, as upon others, his anxious
thoug hts turn to the mother and suffering
sister, and in the little village home, whose
comforts depend upon him, to the other
lonely treside, to which his constan,
thoughtfulness imparts its only light, and
to his own bone, aud the young wife whose
happiness is dearer to him than life. For
this Margaret, Ralph Hall gives his days to
incessant toll, and willingly sacrifices the so.
cial pleasures he is SO eminently fitted to
enjoy.
Il have been in these three homes. With
a love that is almost reverence, his mothe,
and sister speak his name, and with full
hearts thank God for his hfe-that life SO
filed with the beauty of self-renunciation.
The widow and daughter whose hearts he
has made glad, tell of his numbcrless acts
of kindness, of his delicate, and unceasina
watchfulness, and daily they ask Gods
blessing on him whose life is blessing to
others.
'In his own home, the wife whose love
should bless him, whose gentle ministry
should comfort and strengthen him, turns
coldly from him, because he prefers the
happiness of others to his own qualification,
because the pressing duties of life claim ali
his waking hours, leaving him little leisure
for the claim Of society, or for the high in.
tellectual culture which few attain whose
lives are not wholly devoted to it. II.
:. 'Oh, Ralph, | have never known you! !
have so cruelty misjudged you,' said the
weeping wife. y. -
The old man continued: 'Some men talk
poetry some write it in words, and some
,crite it in their lies. The true heroisn,
which poets have sung the beauty of self.
abnegation and of ceaseless devotion to duty
which has been their inspiration, Ralp Hal
has lived. The woman who has won the
deepest love of such a heart should reverent.
ly and gratefully cherish it, as the riches;
blessing Of her life. &c.,. ..
In the twilight of that day, Margaret VA.
awaiting her husbands return. Amid the
bitter self-reproachins that .darkened the
hour, CLEANED a new and holy light. High.
er purposes were aroused within her. In
the future she would make divinely real in
/ her life the beautiful ideas which had filled
her heart with unsatisfed longing. She,
too, would live for others, and first of ali