Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-05-25
THE WIFE,s MISTAKE


ment where her husband sat wholly absorbed
In poring over day books and lcdgers
those hresome accounts STILL" she ex-
CLAIMED, =" i'll you ever find time for any
thing but business, Ralph Have you no taste
for anything beyond figures
Margaret; but the sadness in the tone
was unheeded, she continued
owe had such a charming evening at Mrs.
C.s Capt. Hill related many interesting in
cidents OF his residence in Egypt and Mr. War
rem, the famous young poet, read Maud and
some OF The most beautiful passages in Aurora
Leigh L must read to you some of Rouney's
Great Thoughts on Duty
che went hastily to her chamber FOR the vol
ume. /" hen she returned her quiet entrance
was unheard by her husband. whose pen was
rapidly moving over the almost interminable
Columns OF figures. With an expression of i'm
patience. almost of scorn resting on her face.
she hastily turned away.
And this is the end Of all my dreams of
marriage said she. as she reached her room.
lie has taste for drudgery. His pursuits
and tastes are all commonplace, and must 90
from home to find the sympathy need, to find
tnose who Will appreciate with me the books I
love anu 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 unsatisfed ~
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
DOCKS; he remained tor long time in deep
thought.
'God bless my Margaret" he prayed, "and
give me strength to bear all things. Give NE
power to make her happy"
PuttInS Tar away all thoughts of her hus-
bands real EObleness OF character, ieaIousIy
preserving the memory Of every slight differ
ence IN their tastes and pursuits, Margaret
cherished the spirit of discomfort, till il embit-
tered every hour Of her life, and sent suffering
she never dreamed of to the heart OF her hus
band, who would gladly have sacrificed every
earthly good for her happiness
A sudden and severe sickness came TO her
while Ealph was in 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 watch
Ing her troubled face, you are very unhappy
L have seen 1t for a long time / should not
recognize IN you my 0i:cc cheerful, happy child
May not know what great SORROW has come to
yOu!''
Then with scbs and tears, she told Kim all
her unhappinesS
After d short silence, the old man spoke
AGAIN ana tnerc was sadness, almost sternness
IN his voice: - Years ago, Margaret, New
York merchant became involved in a specula-
ton, whose failure suddenly took from him the
accumulated wealth ot his years Of commercial
enterprise. There were few years of weary
vain struggling to regain what he had lost
then deep dependency, lingering disease
and death. His wife and four children were
left pennilcss. The child, Il boy of sixteen had
finished his preparatory studies, and was about
to enter college. By this stroke he found his
prospects for the future clouded but With a
noble se!f-fOrgetfulness, he turned cheerfulIy
into the way fate marked out for him. and
walked resOlutely in it.
"He obtained a situation with a merchant,
who had known his father, where his faithful
ness 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 private school for young ladies !;
and 1t was the boy highest ambition to relieve
her OF this necessity, and give her the rest her
feeble health required. L cannot 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.
Year after year, success crowned his efforts
In the village whore his mother had passed the
years of her childhood and the first years of her
married life, he purchased 4 pleasant residence
Tor her, and then, lucrat We business being 10
him in the West, be came here
AT the time of his removal here, accident re-
vealed to him the fact that the widow and in
his father advice, risked in that unfortunate
speculation which had 80 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 delicate, 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 anxious thoughts turn TO
the mother, and suffering sister, in the little
village home, whose comfort depends upon him.
to the other lonely freside, to which his con-
stant thOughtfulneS5 inparts its only light and
t. his own home, and to the young wife whose
happiness is dearer to him than lie For this.
Margaret, Ralph Hale gives his days to nces-
SAINT toll, and willingly sacrifices the social
pleasures he is 50 emnently fitted to enjoy
Il huve been in these three homes With n
love that is almost reverence, his mother and
sister speak his name, and with full hearts
thank God for his life-that life so filled with
the beauty Of self-renunciation. 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 a
blessing to others.
SIN his own home, the wife whose love should
bless him, whose gentle ministry should com
fort and strengthen him, turns cOldIy from him
because he prefers the happiness OF others 10
his own qualification, because the pressing du-
ties of life claim all his waking hours, leaving
him little leisure for the claims of society, or
for the high intellectual culture which few at
tain whose lives are not wholly devoted 70 it,
.'Oh. Ralph, l have never known you. |
have 50 cruelty misjudged you" said the weep
ing wife
The old man continued: Some men talk
poetry, some write il in words. and some wr te
il in their lives. The true herOism which poets
have sung, the beauty of self abnegation and
of ceaseless devotion to duty which have been
their inspiration, Ralph Hale has lived. The
woman who has won the deepest love of such a
heart should reyerently and gratefully cherish
IL as the richest blessing Of her life"
In the twilight of that day, Margaret was
awaiting her husbands return. Amid the bit
ter self reproachings that darkened the hour
cleaned new and holy light. Higher pur-
poses were aroused within her. La tho future
she would make divinely real in her life the
beautiful ideals which had filed her heart with
unsatisfed longings. She too, would live for
others, and first Of all for him whom she had SC
misunderstood .tt ~
A hurried step in the entrance hall. then on
A