Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-04-01

wider. She took the wrong method with
me, and being woman she kept to It,
She thought TO dragon me back to the
quiet of my former life, and made my
| private actions personal to herself; seek
ing to fopce me into rendering an account
OF all my doings, and of every item of ex-
| penditnre, then taking it as an affront
| when l refused to answer questions. But
now there was no hope for it, l must
perforce confess With that writ out
against me it was useless to attempt con-
cealment, and if marriage is not feminine
superiority yet it is partnership.
You may be sure il was bitter mo-
ment for me when had to tell my wife
that all her worst anticipations were
| realized; that she had been right
| throughout and | wrong, and that the
destruction she had prophesied had over
| taken us. In her temper of SO many
months now it was doubly hard. But it
seems that | knew as little of women as
she OF men, and had miscalculated the
depth of her goodness underneath all
her wrong-headedness, just as she had
miscalculated my power of will and
truth of love when fairly pulled up.
She heard me out to the end without
making sign. There was no Interrupt
ton, no angry expression, no scornful
look. | saw the hand with which she
held the child tighten round his body,
the one playing with his curls tremble.
| But that was all
When | had finished she looked up
and said quietly: ut is better to know
the worst, George, for then we can meet
it. Now that i know the worst know
| what to do"
And you do not reproach me, Ediths"
asked.
She rose from her seat and came over
to me. Her eyes were full of tears, her
lips were quivering, and yet there was
more love, more softness in her face
through its sorrow than there had been
for all these long, bad, dreary months,
passing now into years.
| She slid the boy from her arms and
| pressed them round my neck.
"Why should | reproach you?" she
said. is not your burden heavy enough
| without that? While thought l could
help to keep you straight / tried--if
clumsily and to no good, yet loyalty
| Now l know that all is over have only
to try and help you both by my work and
my love-"
Something seemed to choke me while
| she spoke. / could have been hard
enough if she had been angry, but this
sudden return to the old love-this un-
expected magnanimity-was too much
| for me. Still, | am thankful to say did
not break down. i was man enough for
| that.
"Will you trust me, Edith" said /, in
tone so rough and husky | scarcely
recognized 1t as my own. "Love me as
10 30, ,,,lxa -
| swear you shall never have cause to re-
proach me again. ! am young, ! can
work, / can be resolute. ] have bought
my experience of life and ! find the taste
too bitter in my mouth. A man may be
a man and yet not be ashamed to think
of his wife as well as of bis pleasures,
and will think of you now"
She sighed and then she smiled.
"You come back TO what you left"
she said in a tender, caressing kind of
way that seemed as if it buried now for.
ever all that had gone wrong between US.
Of course the struggle was a tremen-
! dous one. | lost my clerkship and every
| sixpence | possessed, both in goods and
money. My wife had to give lessons and
had to accept anything that would keep
US from starvation; but we pulled
through in time, and the suffering we
had encountered was perhaps good
thing in the end. 1t taught us to value
each other in deeper and truer manner
than ever before and 1t gave us friend
For dear old Jacks luck turned with his
uncle's death, and he used his influence
to get me situation that began at 500
year. and has steps upward in the
| future. Things have gone well with me
since then. Edith's health has come
back, and my boy is at the head of his
class. have travelled good deal, and
lately ! have taken up chemistry as a
study. Edith declares ] will blow the
house up some day, but have not done
so yet, and think am on the track Of
discovery that will do great deal of
good-make me name, and bring in q
lot of money. | find that as one grows
older work is a more satisfying thing
than pleasure, and knowledge goes
| further than excitement; and Edith finds
that wife's influence is greatest when
least visibly exerted, and that when
woman abandons the persuasion Of love
for authoritative command, and tender
ness for i'll temper, she loses her power
and only deepens the unhappiDess she