Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-08-26
familg Girtle,
The Wife's Mistake.

for anything but business, halpn! nave
you no taste for anything but figures 2"
Margaret ;" but the sadness in the
tone was unheeded, as she continued
1--WE had such a charming evening at
Mrs. C.'s. Captain Hill related many
interesting incidents of his residence in
Egypt, and Mr.. Warren, the famous young
l.poet, read Maud and some of the most
beautiful passages in Aurora 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 entrance was unheard by her hus-
band, whose pen was rapidly moving over
the almost intermiuable columns of fig
ures. With an expression of Impotence,
almost of scorn, resting on her face she
hastily turned away.
"And this is the end Of all my dreams
of marriage" she said, as she reached her
room. "He has a taste for drudgery.-
His pursuits and tastes are all common
place, and I must go from home to find
the sympathy I 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 unsatisfed ?"
In the room she had left, Ralph Hale
sat, hour after hour, till his brain was
weary and eyelids dropped. Then, lay
ing aside his books, he remained a long
time in deep thought.
"God bless my Margaret" he prayed,
and give me strength to bear all things.
Give me power to make her happy"
Putting away all thoughts of her hus-
bands real nobleness of character, ,jeal-
eusy preserving the memory of every
slight difference in their tastes and pur-
suits, Margaret cherished the spirit of
discomfort, till it e14bittered every hour
of her life, and sent suffering she never
dreamed Of, to the heart of her husband,
and who would gladly have sacrificed
every earthly good for her happiness.
A 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 baptized her in
infancy, was sitting by her side.
Margaret he said, after ~steadfastly
watching her troubled face, you are
unhappy. / have seen it a long time.
I should not recognize in you my once
cheerful, happy child. May 1 not know
what great sorrow has come to you?"
Then, with sobs and tears, she told
him'a III her unhappiness.
After a short silence, the old man
spoke again and there was sadness,
almost ~sternness in his voice. Years
ago, Margaret, a wealthy New York
merchant became involved il a specula-
ton, whose failure suddea9y took from
him the accumulated wealthsof his years
of commercial enterprise. There were
a few years of weary, vain struggling to
regain what he had lost then deep
dependency, a lingering disease and
death. His wife and four children were
left penniless. The eldest child, a boy
of sixteen, had finished hisspreparatory
studies, and was about to eater college.
By this stroke, he found his prospects
for the future clouded but with a noble
self.forgetfulness, he turned cheerfully in
to the way marked out for him, and walk
ed resolutely in it.
He obtained a situation. with a mer-
chant, who had known his father, where
his faithfulness and untiring devotion to
his duties won the confidence of all who
knew him. During the first years of her
widowhood, his mother had taught a
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. | cannot tell
you all his privations, his willing saeri-
fee Of every recreation, his continued
self-denial, that he might tighten the bur-
dens of those so dear to him.
Year after year success crowned his
efforts. In the village where his mother
had passed the years of her childhood
and the first years of her married life,
and then, a lucritive business being OPP
ened to him in the West, he came here.
cat the time Of his removal here, &C.
cident revealed to him the fact that the
widow and invalid daughter of one
whose fortune was, by his father s ad-
vice, risked in that unfortunate speeula-
ton which had so changed his own life,
were living in extreme poverty. To him
they are indebted for the pleasant home
that now shelters them, and for the delic-
ate, thoughtful ministration to their daily
comfort.
"Now, when the commercial world is
clouded, and disasters crowd thick and
fast upon him, as upon others, his anxi.
Gus thoughts turn to the mother and suf
fering sister, in the little village home,
whose comfort depends upon him, to the
other lonely ireside, to which his con
slant thoughtfulness imparts its only light
and to his own home, and the young
wife whose happiness is dearer to him
than life. Eore this, Margaret, Ralph
Hale gives his days to incessant toll, and
willingly sacrifices the social pleasures
he is SO eminently fitted to enjoy.
"I have been in these three homes
| With a love that is almost reverence, his
mother aud sister speak his name, and
with full hearts thank God for his life
that life so filled with the beauty of self
remuneration. The widow and daughter
whose hearts he has made glad, tell of
his numberless acts of kindness, of his
delicate and unceasing watchfulness, and
daily they ask Gods blessing on him
whose life is a1lessing to others.
Gin 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 W gratifca-
" ....o Az xnoce;o- d,A;oo oc 1:c.