The democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-04-15

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Mrs. Lupdy retired and waited with a
nervous dread the return Of her husband,
her tooth and head meantime aching, with
dull, boring, fretting pain.
Punctually at two she heard the street
door open, and Mr.. Lundy's decided step
along the passage.
SIS it possiblel too bad too bad!m
she heard him say rs he Cpaused ut the door
Of the diaing.ropm, and saw TINT even the
table was not set. 81 wonder what good
It is for a man to have a house Of his own,
ifhe can't have things as he plcaseS.n 81
dclcarc, Agnes! I'm all out of PATIENCE
he said, entering bis chamber a few mo-
mcnts afterwards, al told you when |
went away this morning, that wished
dinner at the hour, and there isn't even
the sight OF It's being ready. 1t really
looks as II it were done on purpose"
"lf | had the cooking to do, youshould
never wait minute, but can't always
make servants do as please" replied Mrs.
Lundy.
"Thats oil nonsense, don't believe u
word Of 1t, wonder how I'd get along in
my business H. was to let my clerks do
rs they liked. have n certain order in
my business, and every subordinate has
his duties, and knows that they must be
done. Reduce oil your household matters
to alike orders, and keep every one strictly
to her duty, and you'll have things right,
but not Without
Ms. Lundy feared her husband; or,
rather, dreaded and shrank under his
displcasure. II she had been moro indie
pendent and spirited, she would have
silenced instead Of borne his selfish com.
plainings, but she was meek, patient,
suffering woman, who rarely spoke ol
what she fell, or resented an indignity.
She did not reply to her husbands dog.
matte and dictatorial words, any further
than to say in subducd manner.
"lf you had ignorant, careless, self
willed servant girls to deal with, instead
of intelligent clerks you might find II as
difficult as doto have all things in order"
"Send them away II they don't do as
you wish. I'd never keep n girl in the
house an hour, il she didn't do everything
as dcSircd.'
"You don't know anything about it,
Mr.. Lundy. 1t is easy to say, send oil
your cook il she is ten or twenty minutes
late with meal, or serves It up badly,
or does anything that is diSOrderly, but Il
is worse to have no cook than bud one ;
and as togood ones, they arc hard to be
found"
Mr.. Lundy met t.iS with one Of lis
sweeping specimens Sf argumentatiOns,
and completely silenced his wife.
"But," he said, impatently, u can't
wait you cooks movements. Mybusiness
has TO be attended tor and away he
ilounccd from the house /; in ten minutes
the bell rung.
"Tell Sarah that Mr.. Lu1dy couldn't
wait, and that don't want any dinner,n
said MIS-. Lundy to the waiter,
As for the very punctinal and nmiablc
husband, he went to his store, and sat
through the entire afternoon, without
putting hand or thought to business. A
little patience would have lost him moth
ing, and made both business and his wife
happier. ....
After Mr.. Lundy left the house, his wife
tried to 10 some plain sewing for her chill
dren that was very much needed, but,
with the maddening pain in her head and
face, and the binding tears in her eyes,
she found 1t itimposSiblc to make stitch
corr itctly, 80 she laid aside her work, aud
took the baby, thinking to nurse her II
she could do nothing else, but baby, wide
awake and full Of lie, was not content to
sit quietly in her lap; but must be dane
ing and jumping every moment, PATIENT
ly for nearly an hour did the mother bear
the Jar aud shock Of the child's quick
motions, until asensation Of llintness came
over her, and she was very near falling
from her chair. After resigning the baby,
Mrs, Lundy went into her chamber and
laid herself upon the bed, she had taken
little orno food that day had been suffer.
ing from severe pains, had been worried
and excited with the children, and worse
than all, her husbands unsympathizing
and untOcling conduct had made her feel
wrctched. Is it any wonder that she felt
Ill; or that, when Mr.. Lundy returned in
the evening, be should find her in a con-
dition requiring medical treatment The
doctor was Caledin, he did not understand
her case. How could hel The medicine
he gave crsatGda strong rcvulsion in her
system, and did her actually more harm
than good.
She was confined two weeks to her cham.
Der, aud then went forth again into her
household, weaker and more neFyOusly sem
Sitiye than before, to direct, control and
minister to the wants Of her evcr-wantIng
evcr.active children, and to wait upon her
husband, consult bis tastes and lear his
complaints whenever anything that went
wrong in the household abridged his COM
fort in the smallest degree.
Not less than three or four times n year
was Mrs. Lundy made sick in the way de-
sctibed. When she wasbending under the
burden that was too heavy for her her
husband, instead Of tightening, rs he might
easily have done, the load, or givCa her
strength to bear it, laid on the additional
weight that crushed her to the earth. But
no one suspected this-nOt even Mr.. Lundy
himself. The idea that ho was numbering
bis wife by slow and cruel death would
have shocked him; and he would have
thought such an intimation an unpardona-
bic outrage. And yet such was really the
fact. lie was numbering her. Year after
year her duties and her toll increased The
history Of day that we have given was
an cpitomized history Of her life. Mr..
Lundy, so wrapped up in his schemes Of
gain, and so rigid in his notions Of order
punctuality and formal propriety, had no
real sympathy for his wife, and was ever
complaining Of the little irregularitic, Incl.
dent to bis household, and ever adding TO,
instead Of relieving, the oppressive, weary
ing and eyCt.recurring duties that were