The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-04-04

with Mary"
'I could live with her." he cried, convul-
sively, "in a howell! l could go down with her
into poverty and the dusti l could could
-God bless her. cried he bursting into q
transport Of grief and tenderness.
= g And believe me. my friend" said l step
ping up and g~rasping him warmly by the hand,
"believe me-, she can be the same with you
FAY, more it will be asource of pride and tri-
umph to her-it will call forth all the latent
energies and fervent sympathies of her nature;
for she will rejoice to prove that she loves you
for yourself. fTheref Is in every true woman S
heart a spark of heavenly fire which lies dor
mant in the broad daylight of prosperity; but
which kindles up ard beams and blazes in the
dark hour of adversely. No man knows what
the wife of his bosom is-no man knows what
a ministering angel she is-until he has gone
with her through the fiery trials of this world"
There was something in the earnestness OF
my language that caught the excited imagi-
nation of Leslie. l knew the auditor [ had
to deal with; and following up the impression
1 had made, 1 finished by persuading him to
go home, and unburden his said heart to his
must confess, Notwithstanding all I had
said [ felt some little solicit1de for the result.
Who can calculate on the fortitude of one
whose life has been a round of pleasure? Her
gay spirit might revolt at the dark, downward
path of low humility suddenly pointed out be-
fore, and might cling to the sunny regions in
which they had hitherto revealed. Besides,
ruin in fashionable life is accompanied by so
many CALLING notifications to which in other
ranks it is a stranger. In short, 1 could not
meet Leslie the next morning without antici-
patton. He made the disclosure. d
"And how did she bear it"
"Like an angel! 1t seems rather to be a
relief to her mind, for she threw her arms
around my neck and asked if this was all that
had lately made me unhappy. cut, poor
girl" added he, s'she can not realize the
change we must undergo. She had no idea of
poverty but in the abstract; she has only read
of it in poetry, where it is allied to love. She
feels as yet no privation ; she suffers no loss of
accustomed convenience or elegances. When
we come particularly to experience its sordid
cares, its pal;ry wants, its petty humiliations
will be the real trial."
ssBut," 1 said, "now that you have got over
the severest test, that of breaking it to her,
the sooner you let the world into the secret
the better The disclosure may be notifying;
but then it is a single misery, and sooner over.
whereas you otherwise suffer it in anticipation
every hour in the day 1t is not poverty so
much as pretence, that harnesses ruined man
the struggle between a proud mind and an
empty purse, the keeping up a shallow show
that it must soon come to an end. Have The
courage to appear poor. and your disarm pow
of its sharpest sting. On this point l
found Leslie quite prepared. He had no false
himself, and as to his wife, she was only
anxious to conform to their altered circum-
stances.
Some days afterwards he called uron ne in
the evening He had disposed of his dwell
ing house and taken a small cottage in the
country, a few miles. He had been busted all
lay in sending out furniture. The new estab-
ishment required few articles, and those Of
he simplest kind. All the furniture of his
ate residence had been sold, except his wife's
1arp. That, he said, was too closely associated
With the idea of herself; it belonged to the
title story of their loves for some of. the
sweetest moments of their courtship were those
he had leaned over that instrument, and
listened to the melting tone of her voice. I
.ould but smile at this instance of romantic
in a doring husband. 4-
He was now going out to the cottage. where
his wife had been all day experimenting its
arrangements. My feelings has become strong
Y IL terested in the progress of this family ;
tory, and as it was a fine evening, 1 offered to
company i'm.
He was wearied with the fatigues of the
and as he walked out, fell in'o a fit of
musing. --
"Poor Mary" at length broke, with a heavy
Ugh, from his lips. :
"And what of her? 2" / asked; ''has any
hing happened to herr"
what" said he, darting an impatient glace,
is it nothing to be reduced to this paltry sit
be obliged to toll almost in the 1
leni | concerns of her wretched habitation 2"
HAS she then repined at the change"
"Repined! she has been nothing but sweet
ess and good humor. Indeed, she seems in
etter spirits than 1 have ever known her
ne has been to me all love and tenderness and
OLD :
ga mirable girl" exclaimed L: "You call |
ourself ptor, my friend; you never were so |
never knew the boundless treasures
T excellence you possess in that woman.
sol but my friend, if this first meetiL o at
lie cottage was over, [ think 1 could then be
,mfortable. But this is her first day of real :
experiences; she has been introduced into a l.
dwelling-she has been employed all
" in arranging its miserable equipments II
le has, f r the first time, known the fatieues
domestic employment-she has, for the fr.t
looked around her on a home destitute
everything elegant-almost every thing
and now to be sitting down, ex- l.
lusted and ~spiritless broodiDS over a pros "
.ct of future poverty"
There was a degree of probability in this
cture that l could not gainsay, so we walked
in silence. ns.
After turning from the main road up a na.-
W lane, SO thickly shaded with forest trees as
give it a complete air of seclusion, we came
sight of the cottage. 1t was humble
in its appearance for the most pastoral
and yet 1t had a pleasing rural look. A
Id vine had overrun one end with a profu-
IN of foliage; "a few trees threw branches
over it; and / also observed sever. tic
nots of flowers tastefully disposed abou+ the w,
or, and on the grass plot on front. A small
cket gate operel upon a foot path that
,und through some shrubbery to the door =
as we approached, We heard the sound of
1sic-Leslie grasped my arm; We paused and
tened. 1t was Marv's voice singing, in a |
lie of the most touching simplicity, a little tn,
of which her husband was peculiarly fond.
I felt Leslie's hand tremble on my arm
) stepped forward to hear more distinctly