The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1868-08-20

tunate OF happy creaIuEes9
And when, once since, her health
had failed, and he had .seQtsher. 9atsan
outlay which he could III attord) to
the conn try fer a. fortnight by herself,
how she had painted to return to the
old house and him and told him truly,
when once more folded to his honest
heart. that life was nothing to her when
not spent. by his side. And they have
a fhidtoozan infant eftheir own;
and John. though often harassed
and generally overworked, still kept
his health, and more than his first
love for her; and she had food aud
clothes sufficient for her need, and a
roof above her head. Aud yet Meg
Hartley was not happy-she was even
disconnected.
She had not forgotten her first
trials; they had been too real
and pndisguised. to be forgotten; but
she had ceased to .shndder at their
She had no more need to dread a
recurrence of them, and so. their sting
was fading with the lapse of years.
and she put their gracious uses far
away, and permitted the paltry Wor-
ries ofthe presentto harass her IN
stead. y
AS hersoft eyes rested on the flick
ering fire, and . sigh, every. now and
then, escaped her murmuFing heart,
no Thought, not even the remotest, of
Robert Nelson, or the past, rose up
to check her ingratitude. Sailors and
sudden death, and the dull decks, had
not the least share in her thoughts.
She was thinking of John Hartley,
and the many ills Of, poverty, and the
misery of living in Soho instead.
How wretched, how uninteresting,
how mOnotonous, was her life, pent
up in that horrid city, where each day
seemed to pass alike, and was a bur-
den in itself. IS q =
She was thinking Of her own cotton
dresses and of her husbands shabby
coat; of how each morning, were the
weather fine or foul, John Hartley
had togo forth TO his work and labor
amidst such dens of infection and
filth, that often, on returning to his
home, he put his little child's caress
aside, lest anything contagious should
be lurking in his clothes.
And'how, when no such fear ex-
listed, his spirits would be so down.
cast and depressed from the constant
Of crime and want and
sorrow, that he would turn from his
frugal meals almost with loathing, and
say he felt as though the bread and
meat would choke him, whilst SO
many were starving without prospect
of relief 100
And when would it be over?-what
chance was there of her husband ever
escaping from his present life of
anxiety and toll? e bl
Were they to drag out all their days
in this unhealthy, crowded town?
Was their child to grow up pale and
thin, like the many whom she saw
around her, for want Of ever breath
ing the pure, sweet air of the country2
For Meg Hartley did not consider
that her husbands lot was much
worse than her own.-- Their hours
were spent in equal tod, the only DIFF
ference being that his had less
mOnotOny. - &
Whatdid she live FOR but to nurse
the child, and carry it. out walking,
and help their one household drudge
tn cook the meals and keep the house
clean, aud rackSher brains from Mon
day until Saturday to see how she
couldAmake the weekly stipend cover
the weekly wants? She had no
frieDds,0r any she could call such;
for the parish Of which her husband
was onerof several curates lay at some
distance from their own abode; and
London neighbors, knowing little and
caring less about each other, did not
trouble themselves to become ac-
quanted with q parsons wife, who
dressed in cotton of ansafternOon, and
carried cut her baby for an airing in
the park.
OfJohn Hartley's family she knew
nothing. He had plenty of relations,
but they were happy country people
who 5lived down in Suffolk; and
though he had often said that as soon
as he could afford it he must take her
and Daisy Gas he fondly called his lit
tie ehild) to see his mother and his
sisters, that time had never come
yet, nor seemed likelysto do so; and
the sewing machine, which had been
a present from her mother in law
upon her marriage, was the only visi-
Bile link between the -Hartleys and
herself.
The ,sewing-machinel Yes, she
had welcomed it as a useful and ex-
pensives gift; but she had been COM
PEELED to sit att so often since, dur
ing hot, dusty days when she had
been painting for u breath of fresh air,
and cold dark ones, during which she
had scarcely dared use as much fuel
as would enable her to work in COM
fort, that she had come to hate the
sound OF its untiring needle, and the
touch of its patient treadles.
f-asishe fretfully thought to her
self--if she had any material worth
making up, for which to use the hor-
rid thing, it might be different; but
as it as,-and she twitched the worn
skirt of her alapaca dress impa
tiently to one side, as if the sight o
it, even by those dull embers, was
distasteful to;her.
But She could scarcely remembe
what it was to possess a pretty or be
coming dress; and her baby was nevei
| (what she called) fit to be seen.
As for an entertaining book, or a few
fresh flowers or fruits, she had alnOs
forgotten what such things were; anC
it was hard-it certainly was hard-tt
spend ones life without single lux
ury or pleasure. ga
And as she thought of these irwin
chile hArdships Dressed anpon Mes
Hartley's mind, tears began to gathe
in her eyes, and roll slowly down Ehel
! rheeks.s shssEa 6a5aSs %8f
1t was thus that the past had los
it's powert to make her grateful for tn
present, and that she could permi
/ the dread memory of blows and curse
to be-overwhelmed by the existip
discomfort of having to eat salt butte
and wear questionable garment;
lelt -1EasIyerv fnolish Of her = Mors