Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1860-10-02
bod hoasehold have completely a0sorbed

her household have completely absorbed
her.
"Do you think thisabsorption Of herliie
good one-a healthy one-for either mind or
body?' ! asked.
"Perhaps not. But there is n wonderful
power of adaptation in nature, as you are
aware. guess il will all work out right
often wish it were different yet, as wishing
does no good, ! never permit myself to get
worried over what cant be helped. ! am
something of philosopher you know, and
manage under all circumstances, to keep a
quiet mind If Bertha likes her way best
why so be it she's good, loving, over-in,
dulgent wife to me, and won't force her out
of the world she seems most pleased to dwell
in-though our tastes do run parallel in so
many things and we might enjoy so much
together.
My friends feelings lay close to the sur
face, and saw his eyes glisten as he turned
them away from me. He loved his wife as
tenderly as any man who loved his own ease
and pleasures as well as he did could love any
thing out of himself She was, in his eyes
the paragon among women. He was proud
Of her-very proud Of her.
On the next morning, when | met Bertha
at breakfast, and looked narrowly into
her face, saw more of the work of exhaus-
ton than had noticed on the day before
The pearly skin lay in fiat surfaces on her
cheeks, forehead, and shrunken nOstrils, in
stead of showing rounded undulatiOns. Her
lips were very thin and white. Her eyes
large, dark, and lustrous-shone out upon
you from a further distance in their shadOwy
ho1 and nvt1rr DO
a feint of eating, as / could see; while her
husband piled away the steak, mullins, and
omelet in a most liberal fashion, and kept
himself SO busy at this pleasant work as to
permit his wife's abstemiousness to escape
observation.
"You don't look very well this morning"
said /, feeling really concerned.
Bertha smiled family, as her husband
turned a look of inquiry upon her face, and
answered:
ANY head aches a Titles" and then added,
Il hope my frerting baby didn't keep you
awake. l don't know what allied him. He
didn't sleep for an hour at time all night.
Husband had to go into another room. He
can't bear loss of rest"
"No, said he; 81 must have my regular
sleep. How these women manage TO worry
night after night with their babies, up and
down at all hours, is more than l can under
stand. 1t would kill me"
Bertha coughed slightly; cleared her
throat and coughed again two or three times.
There was q sound in the cough that was
unpleasant to my ears. l glanced toward
my friend, to see how it affected him, but he
had not appeared to notice it.
O. And li11a fba vnotbnrS coroaf;vuou - I van
tured TO remerk.
Ny friend looked at me for moment or
two as if had disturbed him slightly, and
then went on with his breakfast. l noticed
the cough again, once or twice, during the
meal.
After breakfast my friend and l retired
alone to the library, leaving Bertha to her
maternal household cares. A sail on the
river, which ran along on one side of my
friends estate, and in that "fairest of pleasure
boats about which he had written me, was
to be our forenoOn's occupation. After
spending an hour or two in the library talk
ing and reading, we went down to the river,
my friend carrying a lUnch-basket which
Bertha had placed in his hand
"Why can't you go with us? | asked, as
looked into her fading face
She shook her head, and half turned it to-
ward the door, from which she had stepped
into the porticO to give her husband the bas-
ket thus indicating that duty must go before
pleasure.
ats no use to invite her, said my friend,
in what struck me as a light and careless
manner. "She never goes any where. Leave
her with her babies and her servants; she is
hapDiest amoDp them
| stood nearest to Bertha when this was
said, and could not have been mistaken in
the sound that reached me-it was a faint
sigh.
"Theres something wrong here, said l to
myself as We walked toward the river "a
life is wasting rapidly away, and no suspicion
of the fact seems to have been Awakened
My friend is either very selfish or very blind.
How can he look into his own ruddy face, as
it stands each day reflected to him in his
mirror, and then look upon that pale, shad-
Owy, ieeting countenance, and not feel the
truth ~
I COncIlfded To-ygOrrO,e I