Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1875-07-10
THE ACHING HEART.

and fortified by the conduct and
letters Of Henry Ward Beecher,
there is one which seems to tower
above therest with Wifely anxiety,
with agonizing suspense Though
she has not figured as a witness,
nor participated in any of the
many conferences and. conspir-
acies which furnished such
interminabe stories Tor witnesses
and scandal-mQngers, though no
guilt or lying or concealment has
been laid TO her charge, she has
borne all the wearing and suffering
ofthis terrible trial with a patience,
hope and fortitude which makes
her the real heorine, if not the
chief victim, of this struggle for
character on one side and gain on
the other.
The whole country cannot but
symrathize with the tortured wife
of Henry Ward Beecher She has
listened to all the dark stories told
by Tilton and the Moultons, has
seen and heard the letters written
by her husband read before the
public--letters pregnant with con-
fessions of some awful crime with
the wife of another man heard
the fierce denunciationsh eaped up
on his head by the plaintiffs coun
sci, and read the criticisms of the
press, and yet hoped with a .yife's
eager hopefulness, that not only
will he come forth from the trial
yindicated, but without trace 10
which she can attach suspicion.
The world has looked on the con-
test with an Implying eye; men
have taken sides with their preju-
dices and been moved by their
judgments; if pity has been evok-
ed for any, it has been for the weak,
vacillating little woman who was
the cause of all this trouble. and
churchmen have been anxious lest
religion be scandalized. But above
all such considerations, above all
such anxieties. has lowered the
frenzied eagerness of this wife and
mother. To her Henry Ward Bee
cher is more than a great pulpit or
ator, more than a popular preach
or, more than representative Oft
great profession. He is her hus-
band. To her his conduct and NOR
ais are of more interest than to the
thousands who tremble for the in
tegrity of a profession or the char
acter of a popular idol. To her he
is the brilliant man who won her
girlish heart and love; the cham
pion of her life; the father of her
children the dearest and nearest
companion of her old age. They
have gone through life together,
hand in hand, and she has watched
with tender, devoted eyes every
honor come with every whitened
stran of hair and every furrow in
his brow. The fascination which
drew men and women about him
has been concentrated to a focus in
her heart, and to her he was the
greatest of human beings as we'll as
the greatest and grandest of men.
Stern and silent and Intent, she
has sat through this long and wea-
ry trial and heard every word that
struck the character of her hus-
band, and felt it rebound like a
dagger into her heart. False to the
world, false to his friends, false to
his God these witnesses swore him,
but above all these, beyond these,
the greatest wrong and crime of all
I'm her eyes, was he false to her p
The world has been kind to him,
but what was that beside a wife's
devotion; friends had followed
him, but she had been the comfort
and stay of his poverty and obscu-
rity; God had lavished blessings
upon him, but to this woman's
eyes He had not been truer to Hel-
ry Ward Beecher than she. The
world may have been deceived,
friends imposed upon, God in the
fickleness of our humanity might
be momentarily forgotten, but
could he have been untrue in
thought or word to the wife of his
bosom, the mother of his children?
In that woman's breast and brain
lowered this query above all the
rest, and on this important, this
vital question to her, she alone
would sit in judgment and through
that tedious trial she hung breath
less, hopeful, straining to hear it
all, to fit it together and to confirm,
if possible, her partial, biasedjudg-
ment.
The world might condemn him,
friends might desert him, religion
may suffer, but she would triumph
still if only she could be assured
that he had been true to her. His
fortunes and his sufferings, his
hopes and his disappointments she
would share 10 the brink of the
grave, and 60 with him to testify
at the Bar sof God to his truth,