Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1869-01-15
SELECTED STORY
A HUSBAND SAVED.
BY AUNT CHARITY.

~ Oh pes BY AUNT CHARITY. 'i--'s NJ
t., s9le!eaD i9ae 49, -isG !st2aaf 4fa4
What contrast in the condition and life
Of a mortal is oftern effected in one little
year. Look in upon that lonely, pale fragile
woman Of eighteen years-in room dimly
lighted. and in a house far from neighbors,
on dark, unpaved street in Jefferson City
hwlere thieves thrive ia joyous plenty, upon
stolen poultry. and deck themselves in jew
elry taken, in broad daylight feom. their de-
fenseless neighbors.I See the deep anxiety
upon that young face, and watch her ner-
|RYous listening for the footsteps of her hus-
band oj...8 adj "a .saf.g{ s IS
|. It is the anniversary Of her wedding eve,
when she was arrayed in the beautiful tulle
and orange blossoms, found in the elegant,
|,costlyrtrousseau selected for her in the city
Of fashion, by Partisan taste, and which she,
to her admiring affectionate younger sisters,
regarded with the pleasure natural with a
girl of her age. One year since, the ever
cheerful home was jubilant over the ap-
preaching nuptials. Harry her afianced
was handsome, gallant youth, Of energy,
probity and genial temper. combined with
the highest order of intellect Lila he had
flowed as his town pet from his earliest boy
hood, and her gentle innocense seemed a re-
fracting medium, which ever turned and
concentrated upon his heart the beautiful,
benign influence of his home, his church,
his Sunday school, though he was far
afrom them, in a cline which chilled all
these warm emotions.
Again in the Sunny South, he found Lila
still the child, and her beauty Of the softest,
most delicate type, He wisely thought, as
she was the partner Of his life-the central
picture in the altar-piece Of his home-that
he would make such a home as accorded
with her taste and his means. Hence his
house was elegant, but in precinct Of the
city then sparsely settled. Lila regarded it
as one Of the foci in the home circle around
which her fond heart revolved, and the pa
ternal hearth the other There is happi-
ness, we believe, for every young couple in
their own house.
A small house on large lot in the sur
burbs of a city, if properly improved by a
young couple, ere they are old, is enhanced
in value many times, and every shrub and
tree blooms as if in grateful recollection of
care bestowed upon it. That night the rain
in torrents and the wind in ftfdl gusts, all
from and through clouds Of Cimmerian dark
ness, seemed sent to test the foundations OF
the house and the courage Of its lone posses
sor. A window shutter in the attic banged
to and fro, and the windows shook like sub
jects Of tic doloreux. H4e
Poor Lila fancied she heard one of the
numerous peregrinators Of the neighborhood
forcing an entrance upon her solitude and
desolation, Where, oh ! where was Harry?
How could he leave her, with his son but
a few DAYS old, with only the nurse for COM
pany and protection !? She would not answer
even the question: Of her own seul-to it
she would not admit that her Harry was
dissipated.1 Oh, with what energy, what
determination does the loving heart force
back every such suspicion, long after the in
a different person considers it fixed habit.
The sound Of the last car died away, and
tremAlons from fatigue and anxiety, after
looking in the crib ''to see if the baby
breathed," she sank into ehaair a "a ra gel
to and fro to, escape the musketoes. a Then
she heard him heard whom ? Her husband
he who, one little year since, at Gods al
tar, swore to love, honor and protect. ooh,
my Harry, how glad am you have come,"
said she; Il have been miserably anxious
about you, and 7 believe there is thief ln
the china closet after the silver" Pooh T.
said the tipsy man, 'flet me sleep. I'm sick
c., -
Poor soul The latter injunction was I'M
necessary; for the sources Of life, thought,
words were dried up by the conviction that
her husband was drunk. Tears All, theif
was a grief too burning, scathing for tears
The beau ideal of her admiration the adored
lover---the legal husband of her heart-a sot!
When a man knowingly and voluntarily ex-
changes bis glorious semblance to his Infinite
Creator for that of a maniac or an imbeelie,
can he expect to retain the love Of a woman
Goods masterpiece, in purity and delica-
cy?
Exhaustion Frustrated Lila, but sleep came
not. and she heard the snoring Of her hus-
band with the feeling that they were lost
her husband, Aeraelf, and lovely innocent
child, Had an artist wished to personate
woe, in her he would have found 2 touching
model but neither pencil nor chisel portrays
such emotion: and uet :. ~. his ctv there are
those who are but its imprint. Joy for the
union Of loving hearts, but not testing anId
frivolity at a Wedding for who knows the
fate Of the vessel just launched upon an un-
known ocean
When our sons 60 to battle we part with
them in tears and agony, and we follow them
with our prayers and sympathies,; but we
sacrifice our daughters upon the hypenlal al
tar with festivities and mirth, and forever
more they are barred to their fa9-f happy
we'll; if not, it is an irreconcilabae Fretchede-,
ness. Why is it that a man who would
scorn the slightest deviation from his honor
to another man, however Indifferent the mu-
tqal relation, will violate VOWS most holy to
his most loving tender, self-saerlficing frlennd