The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1874-04-17


ed Mrs. Hastle; but glancing at San
my, she evidently plueked up ht
courage.
:. 'Sammy's shoes are all out at th
toes. You-will have to get him
pair. And the school picnic is th
last of the week; so you had bette
get them to-day"
"Shoes! Sammy's shoes worn out?
| And Mr.. Hastle laid down his knit
and fork, and looked at Mrs. Hastlr
as if shoes were the .one peculia
lportion of boys wardrobe tina
were indestructable and everlasting
and the fact of this one pair proving
lperishable was her guilt, hers alone
"Sammy's shoes I declared
Fully five minutes did AIr. Hastlt
descant on this theme, till Sally
nerves seemed strung upon a wire
and she was possessed Of full con,
seriousness that she was the meanest
woman in the world. And then he
told Sammy to go and measure hi;
foot; and then he proceeded to take
the last few moutnfuls of his pic.
But though Mrs. Hastle's nerve:
were strung upon wire, and the wire
was waving in the wind, and hei
spirit waved within her, she was 8
mother, and what mother will not
bare all and suffer all for her child'e
sake? The picnic so soon to come of
was going 10 be a large affair, and
all the yong girls of her own age
were to wear white muslin dresses,
and Alice had none. So the weak
voice was raised again.
"Father, guess you will have to
"What? Mrs. Hastle, what now?'
This he said in such terrible tones,
that meek little Mrs. Hastle dropped
the words immediately, as the boy
will drop the stolen peaches when
the farmer seizes him by the collar.
"Alice wants 4 new summer dress;
a white one. ~
"a new summer dress! A white
onew
But we will hasten out at once on
to the quiet piazza. or stroll round
in the door-yard, while Mr.. Hastle
gives relief to his outraged feelings
in regard to summer dresses" Be
fore the speech was half done, how
ever, Alice left the table with a red
flush on her cheek, and flashing
light in her brown eyes, and Mrs.
Hastle alone listened to his closing
words, which she knew, from long
experience, would come after his
lecture had concluded.
l can get her summer dress 1
s'pose, but I shall pick it out myself,
and get something that will wear and
be durable"
"She picked out the pieces she
wanted at the corner store" said
Sally, pleadingly. "She's' got her
mind set on a white muslin. All the
girls are going to have one"
Because every other girl is a fool,
does it follow that our glrl has got
to be one? / guess her fathers judg-
ment is better than hern. White
muslin! Catch her death-cold in it,
and no wear to it all. l shall get her
one that I think will be durable and
do her some good"
Mrs. Hastle dared venture no more
But it was with a sinking
heart that she helped him into his
oyercoat, picked up his gloves, and
followed him out to the gate with
his handkerchief, which, as usual he
had forgotten.
If you think Mr.. Hastle is a mon
ster ofiDjustice, you greatly mistake.
He was a man with many good quail
tiles; perfectly truthful; honest, that
is, he thought he was; strictly just,
that is, he entertained the belief that
he was. And if any man had told
him that he failed in kindness to his
family, he would have been tempted
to knock him down. That is, if sur
prisehad enabled him to exert himself
sufficiently to do so. In fact, Mr..
Hastle's mind was not in the least
introspectiye; he laid hold of visible
duties vigorously. But, as he was
not gifted with any sensitiveness, he
failed to discover how a sensitive
soul could suffer. AS an offset to
his good qualities, he was naturally
domineering and seif-Willed, and as
Mrs. Hastle had, ever since their
marriage, yielded implicitly, blindly
to his desires, reasonable or unreas-
enable, deferred to his wishes, and
herself to be controlled com
pletely by him, this discipline had
not had tendency to counteract his
natural tendencies.
As we say, he called himself strict.
ly honest and just. If he owed a
man a dollar, he rested not till it was
paid. But 1 certainly think he nev-
paused to consider whether he was
Just to his wife. When she had Ia
bored side by side with him, since
their married life began, helped him
to accumulate his handsome proper
ty-had been prudent and economi-
cal, and worked now for their united
interests harder than he did, more
hours-I don't suppose he had ever
himself whether it was
really just for him to clutch the fam
lily purse in his own right hand, and
dole out every penny she called for,
as if it were a gift he was bestowing
upon q menial. All the household
meals, all the children's clothing, for
which he was certainly as response
BILE as she; yet she had to extract it
from him by the most painful pro-
cesses of reasoniDgs and pleadings,
and after long arguments, and end
less objections, and reproaches, he
yielded it up with mental groanings
that could scarcely be uttered.
All this was exceedingly painful
to Mrs. Hastle's meek, sensitive soul.
But she was a natural martyr; she
had a born aptitude for that voca-
tion. Had she lived in the days Of
martyrdom, no human agency could