Cairo evening times. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1865-1866, 1865-10-21

oA1Ro, SATURDAY, OCT. 81, 1865.
THE BANRR UPT HUSBAND.

THE BANKRUPT HUSBAND.
sI1l have to go, Mary; there's no help for
it. She looked up-the lady to whom these
words were addressed way that showed
they had struck and hurt her. She was
scolloping childs shirt, and the needle
work had followed her rapid fingers along
. the flannel like line of snowy foam: but
now therwork fell, UNDECIDED, to the floor
All, John, has it come to thats asked Mary
the wife of John Malcolm; and the soft bloom
of her cheeks vanished away, and the words
were spoken with kind of gasp, as though
beneath them lay mighty swell and rush
OF feeling that well-nigh overpowered her
voice. ..-----,
s '''Yes, Mary, it must come. God knows
I've struggled as hard as man could to Wealth
" er the storm, and could have done it, too,
if those Western hadn't gone under. But
they'll carry us with it.
ST can't realize it yet; john" she said,
looking at him in half bewildered half
frightened way that was pitiful to see; the
shock for the moment, half stunned her. :
"Oh, Mary, it was hardest for your sake!'
and the words came in that sharp ~groan
which is terrible to hear from the lips of a
strong man. The tones reused her at once
into full conciousness ofwhat had befallen
them, and of the part she must bear in it.
ss"Don't t., John-don' take it so hard, :" her
voice struggling up through asob into note
of brave cheerfuhess, and her lips fashion
ing smilewhich, though weak at first, you
felt certain would grow stronger all the time
just as you feel the sweet promise of day
when the first faint sunbeams struggle out
Il could have borne up, Mary, if it hadn't
been for you and the children; but that
thought cuts to the corc-it's more than I
can bear" a..
And for the first time the young wife and
mother heard a sob from the lips of her hus-
band, as he bowed down on the arm of his
chair The pride of his manhood gave away
at last, and John Malcolm wept like child.
Then the woman's heart, the woman's power
tocheer, and comfort, and strengthen, reused
themselves; the waves went over her but
one moment, and then Mary Malcolm forgot
herself, and rose up to the true height Of
her wOma nhOod-to the eXaltation of self
sacrifice
"John,' said the soft, brave voice, don't
say that again. Leteverything else fail, the
heart ofyour wife never will"
And now she had come close to him, and
he felt her small arms about his neck, and
her head lay ON his shoulder, as tender, as
confidingly as in their days of brightest
prosperity. All through day he had been
looking forward to this hour, and shrinking
away from it; and once or twice. God forgive
toward the river, which rolled it's dark sui
len waters in the distance and fierce tenn
tation had rushed over him to drop every
thing and hurry out there and bury all his
pain and anguish under the dark, crumpled
sheet of water. But john in his secret dis
tress knew that this temtatation was the
voice of the devil entering into his soul; he
wasa man who feared God and kept his
COMMUNICATIVE put the temptation
aside. .- ....-rs .--- J -t3t ~. $3.50 ~-E
The young husband had not doubted his
wife's heart for moment; but he had eX-
pected to see her almost stricken to the earth
with the first tidings ofthe ruin of the house
in which he was the heaviest partner He
knew that her youth had been nurtured in
all the grace and luxury that wealth confers,
and he feared the thought of going out in
thc'chill and darkness OF poverty. He had
not looked for loud lamentations, or bitter
reproaches, but he dreaded the'silent tears,
the mute despair of the white face.
So John Malcolm raised his hot face stain
ed with the tears that were shed for her sake,
and looked into the eyes of his wife; and she
answered him with smile that set even her
face ina new sacredness and beauty to her
husbands eye-a smile SO sweet and tender
to him, SO brave and defiant for the wors,
the world could do for them that it said tc
him at once all that her words would, anl
could not ~ s.te-r. NN.~ i :,
"Ah, Mary, my wife," said the merchant
81 thought when | came into my house, al
hour ago, was ruined man; feel now al
though was very rich one"
Ruined, with me and the children, john
and now there was some faint reproach il
her voice, but she chung closer to him.
But, Mary-poor child, you don't know
what it is to be poor, to give up SO much o
grace and luxury, to which you We been &C
customed." ~
you say that, John, before you've triet
me, and seen what springs of courage ant
powers of self-sacrifice there are in my ma
tures The noble words had fitting EN-
phasis in the sweet smile-in the steadfast
dauntless tones.
But we shall have to give up the house
Mary. @ "a
"Well we can feel just as happy in small
er one. Our love has had broader founda
ton than stately rooms and costly furniture
Wen take cosy little cottage somewhere
in the country, and for three servants ge
along with one" tey5
Hearing these words, John Malcolm look
ed at his wife, but did not say then what
was in his heart-a thanksgiving to God fol-
the angel He had sent to walk with him
He took her hand and held it close in his
while he told her of temptation that had
beset him before the failure of his house be
came certain-a temptation by yielding tC
Which, Cou1u udfC SdfCu ldll
ure. But it must have been by dishonest
means, by taking advantage of others in his
power-in short, by fraud, which, though
mans law could never reach, Gods did, with
that eternal "DO unto others as we would
they should do unto you" sss-as
80, thank God! thank God that you were
delivered from this evil / had rather you
would have gone down to your grave with
out dollar than have committed this sin, y
said Mary Malcolm; and the tears were in
her blueseyes. ..o...-.-
And afterward there fell little silence be-
twixt those two, husband and wife, 1t was
broken by the latter, She looked up in the
mans face. and her little fingers shifted them
selves through the dark hair that had no
shocks of gray, and her look, bright, CRATE
full, loving, touched and coverd great deal
What is it Nary"
81 was thinking, John, how much better
off to-day l am than thousands of wives
throughout the land. How many there are
who sit in their lonely homes wearing the
slow hours away with hopes and fears for
the husbands who have gone to the war, and
whose dreams at night are filled with visions
OF battle fields, where the one loved face lies
white and CHASTITY on the sodden grass, with
no hand to offer the last cup of cold water
no ear, to catch the last, low word. All.
John, my eyes have never searched was so
many eager eyes do, for your name among
the lists of dead or wounded seems a word