The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1871-01-20
STEPHEN APPLETON's WIFE.

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he bethought him that it would be
well to get married, and looked
about him accordingly for wife.
Had others looked for him they
would probably have chosen a self
contained, decorous person past
thirty, and would not have been par
ticular as to looks, inasmuch SIS
Stephen was no beauty himself, and
never had been. He, however
greatly to the surprise of every
one who knew him, walked up the
Church aisle one Sunday morning
with a pretty girl upon his arm,
and, after the service, introduced
her to his friends among the con
gregation as his wife. She looked
a great deal more like his daughter,
and a blushing, smiling, loving lit
tie creature, who must, so far, have
had a happy life, to have brought
out SO many happy dinples.
So she had, indeed. A half-doz-
en- bright-eyed sisters. and a mother
who was only an older sister in
years, had cried bitterly when Ste
phen Appleton had marched off
from their country home with one
of their number on his arm, and
had gone so far as to ask each other
confdentially, "What lilly could
have seen in that cid telIO10 ~ And
certainly it seemed almost a mystic
/ ~ that such solemn wooing should
have prospered with such a merry
/ girl-wooing without many of those
accessories which women hold so
dear, of praises and carcsses.
Probably poor Tilly thought
they were all to come after marriage.
Hes not handsome, perhaps. she
would say; 'but then he's very pre-
possessing and he has such a mind p
And then it seemed to her that
he needed some one to look after
him, to sew on his buttons, tie his
cravat, and properly prepare his tea,
which he had a custom of making
wretchedly for himself in his little
study.
So she left home and love, and
plunged into the melstrom of we'd
ded life with a man who had so
strongly imbued himself with the
idea that woman was his inferior,
that he thought it a waste of inte'y
lect and time to love one ovcrmuch,
or to study her tastes and fancies
for moment if they conficted
with his own.
She, the inferior, had, on the con
trary, said to herself, 81 must try to
adapt myself in every way to Ste
phen;" and had thought also that
she would never find happiness in
anything which did notsplease him.
She had joyfully accepted all his in
yitations to weariful lectures, and
refused to enjoyher favorite pastimc,
the polka, when she discovered that
he disapproved of it. And now, in
her plain little home, she hopefully
and smilingly took up the dull rou-
tine of woman's household drudge
~, and made all fresh and sweet
and pleasant; fed her genius and
hero daintily, and saw to his stock
ings and buttons.
He hardly knew it. He never
awoke out of his hard and cruel
selfabsorption sufficiently to be
aware of her constant thought for
him. He gave her so much money
a week and found that it sufiiced.-
She had a home and clothes; that,
it was his theory, was what women
married for.
He knew she was pretty, but it
was his right to have as pretty n
wife rs he could get. And she
adorned herself with ribbons, and
twined flowers in her hair, and took
thought about her cuffs and collars,
in the vain hope of being told just
once that these pretty things be-
came her.
Woman's vanity should never be
encouraged, was one ofhis theories.
Other men looked at her admiring-
"; other men limited what she would
have given worlds to hear Stephen
say. But she received no such
homage from him. She had no
kind words of appreciation, no kiss
es, no endearments.
In the morning a mandate was
given concerning dinner. In the
evening he ate with her; and though
he had no fault to find, never prais-
ed dish. After the meal, he either
went ont or locked himself in his
study among books and papers,
Once, at the very first, she had ta-
ken the crochet work to the door,
and asked TO be let in; but he had
answered by denial.
MANS work" he said, scntcn
tiously, "is too great to be broken in
upon by woman's chat or woman's
idgeting;" snd she had retired qui-
city.
She never tapped at these panels
again; nor did she ever hint at any
wish for Tecreation-at any desire
to enioY q play or a concert. even at