The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1875-03-22

could read the future as other men could
read the past.
l dare say many Of my readers will
laugh at me for the confession, but Ihad
never seen q race until Jack Langhorne
took me down TO the Derby on his drag.
1t was day both Of great enjoyment
and great excitement TO mo, for under
his auspices netted fifty pounds; and 1
felt millionaire. was wild with plea
sure; perhaps, too, the champagne
counted for something in my hilarity,
as / took home to Edith sixth Of my
yearly income, made in fewer hours than
1t took mo to earn my paltry diurnal
guinea. Yisiopso OF fortune, golden and
bright, passed before my eyes, and al
ready / saw Edith queening it in the
park with her high.stepping bays and
faultless turnout. She should have
everything money could command.
Whatever else my visions showed me
she was always foremost inmy thoughts
and highest in my hopes.
But when gave her the money she
turned from mo coldly, and minute
after had buried her face IN the pillow
Of the sofa where she was lying and was
sobbing. Iwas o good deal surprised,
o little shocked, and greatly hurt-I had
better use the larsher word and soy vex-
ed-at this outbtnst. / did not see the
good Of II, and1 did not understand 1t,
Besides, 1t chills o man SO painfully to
be received with coldness and tears after
such o day as I Ind spent ! II makes the
contrast between life inside and outside
the home too sharp, and only sends him
further off instead Of drawing him near
CT. However, tears were too scarce yet
for me to disregard or Withstand them,
so / kissed my wife and did my best to
soothe her, and by degrees brought her
round so far that she left of crying and
began to kiss the baby, as il II was some
thing quite new and sho had never kiss
ed it before. (
Though 1 was sorry to see her cry this
vexed me again. She Ind not seen me
all the day, and sho had had the boy. /
thought she might have paid little at
tention to the ono who had been absent,
to put 1t on no other ground.
But when I demonstrated she only an
swered 81 know, George, you do not
/. care for baby. You never have cared for
him, and il It were not for me he might
die Of neglect"
Ibegan to laugh at this. 1t struck
me rs too conical TINT wife should re-
proach her husband for not taking care
Of the baby; for surely II there is such
q thing as "woman's work" in the
world, they are not meant by nature and
the eternal fitness Of thingsto besoldiers
and sailors and lawyers and doctors and
tho Lord knows what besides, that work
is to be found in the homo and
the nursery. Butshe was angry when 1
laughed, and raising herself onherelbow
drew q picture Of the infamy, ruin, de-
graduation that was to follow on my TAX
ing to bad courses, founded on my not
caring for baby and my having wonfifty
pounds at the Derby, that / seemed to
be listening to o maniac, not the Edith
/ Ind left In the morning and had loved
for 30 long. Perhaps I was too i'm
patient, and ought TO have remembered
that II found my Life dull hers was not
too gay; 1 ought TO have Inadeallowance
for the morbid nervousness and brood
ing fancies Of n woman left alone for the
whole day; but 1 was younger then than
I am now, and the thing ended by our
having our first grave quarrel, wherein
we were both silly, both unjust, and
neither Of us would give way.
The bad blood made between us to-
night grew worse as time went on, and
the circle we werc in wasa vicious one.
Ikept away more and more from home,
because my vile made It too miserable
for me by her cnldness, har tears, her
complaints, her ill.humor; and the more
1 kept away tho more she resented 1t.
She took an almost insane hatred and
suspicion Of my friends and my actions,
and did not scruple to accuse me and
them OF vices and crimes because / was
often late, from no worse cause than
playing pooland billiards. Herreproach-
es first weariel and then hardened me;
and by degreesa kind OF fierce feeling
took possession ofme-a kind OF revenge
full determination that would be what
she imagined me 10 be, and give her
cause TO denounce me rs she did.
Harmless amusement became arluse-
mont not SO harmless, petty little stakes
Of half.a-crown aud a shilling grew to
gold; the glass of beer became the glass
Of brandy-and moro than ono; and tho
tdciits descelsis had one more self
directed victim on its slippery way.
Work was intolerable 10 me. What /
did I did badly, and / sliirked all i
could. wns often late, rs often left
too early; and my employers were really
good and lenient. ASH wns, however, /
wearied out their patience, and they re-
monstrated with me firmly but kindly.
This sobered me for o moment; but i
had gone too far to retreat; until ] came
out at the other side / must 60 on.
The fortune which had so long be-
friended Ja,k Langhorne deserted him
now, and with his fortune his nerve.
Where he had staked with Judgment he
now backed wildly, recltlesaly, and the
more he lost tho more recklessly he
staked. His fortune seemed to influence
mine. Hitherto had been immensely
successfrl; now the luck ran dead against
me, and / lost more than / could afford,
and soon more than could pay, and 30
came face to face with ruin.
During all this time the cstrangement
between Edith and myself grew daily
wider. She took tho wrong method with
me, and being o woman she kept TO It.
She Thought TO dragoon me back to the
quiet Of my former life, md made my
private actions personal to herself; seek.
ing to force mo into rendering an account
Of allmy doings, and Of every item Of