The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1873-01-02
Divorced.
He'll 90 to the dogs now
sOfscourse he will


acted when his wife lived with him
Now that she's left him, and all re
straint removed. hs'll go the rest o
the downward way no Time. Poo
Nettic! wonder she stood it q
long
III give him just one year to b
buried
Pshaw half that time will finisl
him.
We'll, pity him too, but ! pity hs
moro. He brought misery on both.
Such was the gossip Of half dcz
IN villagers who stood in the front o
one OF the principal stores, ono sum
","r avening. while tho subject o
their remarks went staggering along
on the opposite side.
1t is evident he was trying to wall
straight, and not to appear intoxicat
ed, but SUCK cn3eavors always seem
to make drunken man walk NOR,
crooked. Well, 1t proved one thing
that ne was not lost to all sense o
shame-that he still retained a littl
pride and lingering aversion to be
ing ridiculed and despled.
But Harry Rodgers had carried OF
at a fearful rate tor year or tw.
past. He had just one yic.e-drin'
but that was enough. He hal mar
ried a worthy farmers daue. liter
Nettie Ray, only few years pre- VI
ously, and such had been his conduc;
during more than year past that
she, seeing ny hope OF reform, had
been obliged to cut him loose to pur-
sue his profligate course alone; aud q
legal separation had Just been effcc-
TED. It was sad, ideed, but no other
c urse seemed to be left her.
Harry's home was on little farm,
mile from town. He owned it, but
then it was heavily mortgaged, and
in another year foreclosure was Ger.
tain. It was not likely his creditors
would spare him when he made no
effort to meet his obligations, and
spent his lime in riotous and disgrace.
tul conduct.
A week passed after that summer
evening on which all had agreed in
predicting his early ruin-two weeks
three weeks-a month or two.
What strange mystery is here ! To
the utter bewilderment of the proph-
csying sages, Harry discontinued Wis
itlng the tavern, and was rarely ever
seen in the village. When he did
come in the store, he speedily trans.
acted business aud then went home
sober.
But wonders never cease when
thoy get start. lie was next ro-
ported as actually at work on his
farm. Had bu. one man seen this,
and told it in the village, he would
have been marked as a man lacking
veracity; but number of ladies saw
il and told it, and their combined
testimony was worthy OF all Gre
dence.
The little farm began to look
healthier as the summer wore on
The fence Strengthened up; the
weeds disappeared; the corn grew
the briars and elders
v ere rooted up from the fields and
fencerows; the animals looked latter,
sleeker, and happier, and tho cottage
looked neater.
Time wore on, and the great
change was the more strangely ro-
each day. Harry's credit
ors CALLED and told him they would
not be hard on him, and he might
have his own time paying his debts
md clearing his farm OF tho mort
gage.
The fall came, and the farm yield
ID an abundance of golden corn and
ruits; such crop indeed as il had
'ever produced before; aud Harry
ound himself begianing to drift
llong with tide of prosperity.
And Net,is Ray had begun to live
Ter young girlhood over again, as it
we're under her fathers root; but
somehow, it was not like the happy,
oyoas girlhood OF memory. It was
ober and quiet now, and Ncttie tell
nto trains OF musing every now
nd then there passed through her
mind a certain thought-shc was
lelther ma d nor wife.
She avoided the vicinity OF her late
lome, nor hal she had heard of him
OCCASIONALLY; knew that lie was a
hanged man. Still this knowledge
rought hor a melancholy satisfac
ion. The reform had come too late
too late There was wide guilt
etween them now.
But, one evening in the golden Oc
ober, Nettis found herself obliged
. pass Harry's farm. 1t lay between
er fathers house and the village but
he had heretofore taken Il round
bout road in going to and from the
illagc. On the evening in question,
owever, she had been detained in
he village unconsciously till it was
early dark, aud she determined to
azg d the nearest road home. It
'ould be fully dark when she would
ass his house, and tho chances were
rat he would not see her. She
have him see her for the
,orld.
When she arrived opposite the
ouse, she perceived q light in the
tting.room. Her first impulse was
hurry by; but some powerful in
uence prompted her to stop. She
id 30, and stood timidly At the fur
Ter side OF the road, gazing longing
, at the house that had been home
,r her--first OF happiness, then OF
lisery. BY .aud.by she felt an ire.