The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1859-04-14

cu :" VohCcTt UuI always IelC an un
!, pleasant sensation afterward, as il he ha
done something wrong.
I And SO the years went on, and th
sunbeams came not across the threshol
into their dwelling. Occasionally Mr.
Crandall obtained a brief glance into
some other homes, and as the pleasan
visions passed, sigh would disturb hi
bosom-light and warmth were there.
il Something was wrong in his own home
that he had felt for good while-an,
ne did not wholly blame his wife. Blu
the exact location Of the wrong he coult
never clearly perceive. In the beginning
it was different. Then there was
warmth in his heart, and sunshine il
the face Of his wife. But it was in hi
memory, marked day after day as the
dial records the advancing shadows
how the brightness of her face diminished
steadily until all was eclipsed. All /! il
he had dreamed Of the cause! But Mr.
Crandall was not the man who looked in
ward upon his own life-not man who
considered his actions in their effect up
on others. He was moreover silent
undemonstrative man, rarely expressing
his feelings. He gave few outward signs
BY which any one could read his heart
Here lay the Origin of his trouble at
home--tho beginning of the eclipse that
left this world almost in total darkness,
when it should have been MONDAY. It
was enough for Mrs. Crandall, in the
earlier years of their welded life, to know
that her husband loved her. Her heart
asked more. She wanted loving words
and loving looks also: and for lack of
these, its green things withered, and its
blossom faded. Having told her in the
beginning that he loved her; having af-
terwards married in proofof his declara-
tion and worked ever since for the sus-
tanning Of his home, aud keeping her as
far above want as it was possible for him
to do-Mr. Crandall saw no reason WHY
he should all the time be passing COM
plimenls. He couldn't do it. II wasn't
in him. He would have felt ashamed Of
il as weakness.
And so, almost from the beginning. he
failed to ogive those little outward signs of
affection, those pleasant tokens of kind
ness so grateful to all. When his wife
said, as was often the case, during the
first year that succeeded their marriage.
"Thank you, Peter" and smiled CRATE
fully in return for some little act of kind.
ness-or expressed pleasure when he
came home from his work at evening,
drawing her arm around his neck
and kissing him-or told him how lone
some she felt all day. and what light
his coming brought into their home, Pc
ter Crandall felt glow of pleasure in his
heart. But it did not come within
range of his imagination-dull at best
to conceive that like words from him
would be to the spirit of his wife like dew
to the thirsty ground. So he never ex-
pressed pleasure at meeting, but rather
from kind of false pride, a
certain GOODNESS, as though it was an ac-
tion of manliness to act indifferently.-l
No matter how many attentions his wife
might show hin-no matter what she
for his return, nor with what
dainty skill she cooked the evening or
monday meals, he never praised, and
rarely gave even the meagre reward of
expressed qualification. But if things
were wrong-if the coffee was bad. or the
bread sour, or the meat burnt cooking,
he was sure to speak out. and not always
in over choice words.
AS Mrs. Crandall began to fail in out
ward signs Of affection. Peter perceived
their Withdrawal on the gradual fading
sunshine. when clouds gather over the
aimsy wells that deepen into obscure cur
tains. But the cause to him was a mys-
terry. He felt as of old to his wife, and
worked as cheefully as in the beginning.
The home feeling was as strong as ever;
and. after Withdrawing from the outer
world. when the night shadows fell. he
had not the beginning of a desire to go
abroad from his sanctuary. shorn, as it
was, of its chief attraction-the smiles
md loving tones, and wordsof his chang
ag wife.
From this inauspicious beginning went
IN steadily the unhappy change. The
coming Of children. which on their ad
rent, was like the falling down upon them
# sunbeams through suddenly rifted
clouds, increased instead Of dismissing
he unpleasant aspect of things in the
house OF Peter Crandall. If the moth
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