Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1858-05-22
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Nv friend Wilkins married a sweet
oung girl, Of q quiet, amiable dspo.
fl int thsnd wbgt skilled il thos<
y III aiesswfthoJt asknoxledge ol
III 3 y @fS's duties sre felt "a q
HI Ill ~ beg4nhg. He was q,
hwy Of more Nan one who had aspired
10 the possession of her hand. Iknev
him to be Industrious, intelligent, ano
kind-hearted and I felt sure that.hs
had taken a companion who would
b. 1gtthfal and loving. Theproni.st
eSxlHh7O warrdnE aupsdphi
Ell Of more than ordinary happiness.
They ,semoyed to, another town. Ter
|yjale 1fierwafds, in passing through
that town, I called.upou Wilkins, who
| m1t me with the old frank cordiality
|Eyes aid face we're in . glow Of pleas
|ufe, when. still grasping his hand, ]
enquired after his wife. His counte-
nance changed instantly.
"Podt Mary" he SAID, in a sad,
discouraged way. 'She has nc
health"
"I'm sorry" was my natural re-
pOnse.n saa 81 ltets 500 ~
SIS Sickness, and the loss Of two Of
our chibdren, have SO worn down body
and mind, that she is but a shadow Of
her former self. Worst Of all, hel
nerves are completely shattered. Blu,
you must see her. To meet an OLD
NisaN nil do her good sAVin You spent
tie eFeEing With US ?"
asscnted, and then made further
enquiries about his family and worldly
conditions. His story was not very
bright spns, The birth Of their frs,
s6ild Vas followed BY d prosnatins
sickness, which brought the young
mother to the utmost verge of death. q
I" She has never had good health
since," said Wilkins, in a depressed
voice. "My income was small, and
we could not afford the amount of
household assistance, in the beginning,
that she really required; and so every
thing was against her restoration to
sound health. Children came rapidly,
bringing with them more exhausting
cares. ,l.And the death Of two of our
little ones, as / have told you, seemed
Is complete the work Of ruin. She is
now a hopeless invalid; a poor, weak !,
nervous, unhappy creaturc-a mere
wreck of what you saw ten years ago
.--moving like a fearful ghost through
her daily round Of duties, and only kept
alive by the constant and careful atten-
ton of physician. | don't think the
doctor has been out Of my house for
two weeks at a time for the past six
Years, and I am sure has receivedmore
than three hundred pounds of my mon
ey in that time. .,The fact is, what with
doctors bills, nurses, medicines and
the hundred nameless expenses sick
and o nervous wife entails upon man,
my, fortunes have been married. They
keep me poor" @ ,' q 1000, ,,,se... 2 81,
Wilkins spoke in fretfu1 voice. 1t
wasplain that1he had grown impatient
under The trials to which the continued
III health Of his wife had exposed him.
'fcal1ed at his office again towards
evening, and went home with him.
Had Igmet Mrs Wilkins on the street,
Iswould not have recognized in her the
happy bride who, ten years before,
Elushinghin beauty, 1 had seen giving
her hand in 'life-partnership,e with
such loving confidence in the future, to
the husband Of her choice, Her coun-
tenance was wan and wasted, all the
beautifully rounded outlines gone her
eyes deeply sunken, were languid, al
most to Indifference her hair, once
richly luxuriant, had fallen Of, until
seasSvyhalff Of it, rema inel, Ind that
looked dry and crisp with here and
there . premature line Of grey. She
stopped slightly, and her motions were
llfeless. 7sg-.sg5 5ss vea :, sr sasm si1i
esAsfaint smile parted her lips as I
gyasped her hand with.all the warmth Of
aAgenuine friendly interest. But it fa-
dBa almost as soon as it was born. /
tried to talk with her. in cheerful
strain. and did succeed in awakening a
bsicfsinerest in the olden time. But
the present. was too plainly real; it
would not permit her thoughts to in
dulge in pleasant fancies. I could not
help asking about herself and her chill
dren, and this turned the current of her
feelings into their wonted channel |; and
/ listened to her sad heart-stories and
painful experiences in sickness, until
my own feelings were deeply sorrowed.
IzPitisdplwr. What a sombre, suffering
life had been hers Into what world
Qf misery, instead Of happiness, had
slsnizge translated her : e, 3. s.'ss's,so3
aAsshe talked, Il observed her has
band2 caTefuliy. It was plain that he
had buts little sympathy with bis wife's
stsss Of feeling. He was sufferer With
her, though, in a lighter degree; and,
. g his sufferlngs originated in her, there
vas plainly certain lack oflkindly pa
sieffce' towards his companion. Sever
81 times heainterrupted her, trying to
draw the conversation into another
channel and once or twice he threwein
depretiating sentences. as if, she were
exaggerating the unhappy story Of her
lieaa HILL TIA dIaIS XAaI9I
.ss Liearned that Mrs. Wilkins rarely,
eYer went out Of her own house,
1dksdnhss we're very arduous, and her
ability. from. III health, small. Every
I ey4ahe worked to bodily exhaustion,
end 6stal in pain. There Was "a nc. re- :
creation Of any kind, bodily or mental
It Mas4 living death. No wonder She
We dropping, wretched, nervous NO
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