The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1875-03-19

Z II
soOthe her, and by degrees brought her
round so far that she left off crying
and began to kiss the baby, as If 1t was
something quite new and she had never
kissed it bsfore.
Though 1 was sorry to see her cry
this vexed nae again. She had not seen
me all the day, and she had had the
! boy. I thought she might have little
attention to the one who had been alb
sent, to put it on no other ground.
But when I demonstrated she only
answered, 81 know, George, you do not
! care for baby. You never have cared
for him, and if It were not for me he
would die of neglect. +" .- eg.
I began to laugh at. this. Il struck
me as too comical that a wife should
/ reprOach her husband for not taking
care of the baby: for surely if there is
such a thing as wOman's work" in the
world, and they are not meant by ma
ture and the eternal fitness Of things to
! be soldiers and sailors and lawyers and
doctors, and the Lord knows what be-
sides, that work Is to be found in the
home and nursery. But she was angry
when 7 laughed, and raising herself on
her elbow drew a picture of the infamy,
| ruin, degradation that was TO follow on
my taking to bad courses, founded on
my not caring for the baby aud my hav-
ing won fifty pounds at the Derby, that
[ seemed to be listening to a maniac,
not the Edith [ had left in the morning
! and had loved for so long. Perhaps 1
was too impatient, and ought to have
| remembered that if 1 found my life
| dull hers was not too gay; I ought to
| have made allowance for the morbid
nervousness and brOOding fancies of a
woman left alone for the whole day
but I was younger than I am now, and
| the thing ended by our having our first
grave quarrel, wherein we were both
silly, and 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 were in was vicious one.
I kept away more and more from home,
because my wife made it too miserable
for me by her GOODNESS, her tears, her
complaints, her ill-humOT; and the more
kept away the more she resented it.
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 L was
often late, from no worse cause than
playing pool and billiards. Her re-
prOaches first wearied and then hard
ened me; ard by degrees a kind Of
fierce feeling took possession of me-a
kind of revengefUl determination that
L would be what she imagined me TO
be, and give her cause to Genounce mo
as she did.
Harmless amusement became amuse-
ment not so harmless. petty little stakes
of half a-crOwn and a shilling grew to
gold; the glass Of beer became thegiass
of braudy-and more than one and the
facjLj8 descen8US had one more self
directed victim on its slippery way.
Work was intOierable to me. What [
did I did badly, aud [ shirked all l
could. was often late, I as often left
too early; and my employers were really
good and lenient. As it was, however,
[ weayied out their patience, aud they
demonstrated with me firmly but
kindly.
This sobered me for a moment; but
I had gone too far to retreat until l
came out at the other side I must go
on.
The fortune which had so long be-
friended Jack LanGborne deserted HIM
now, and with his fortune his nerve.
Where Re had staked with judgment he
now backed wildly, reckiessly, and the
more he lost the moro recklessIy he
staked His fortune seemed to infiu-
enCe mine. Hitherto [ had been I'M
mensely successful now the lack ran
dead against me, and I lost more than
[ could afford, and soon more than L
could pay, and so came face to face
with ruin.
During all this time the arrangement
between Edith aud myself grew daily
l. ! l.. I
with me, and being a 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; seeking to force me into rem
dering an account of all my dOiugs, and
of every item of expenditure, then tax
ing it as an affrOnt when I refused to
answer questions. But now there was
no hope for it. [ must Perforoe con
fess. With that writ out against me it
was useless to attempt COncealment,
and If marriage is not feminine superb
GRITTY, yet it Is partnership.
You may be sure it was a bitter mo-
ment fOf me when / had to tell my wife
that all her worst anticipations We're
realized that she had been right
throughout, and ! wrong; and that the
destruction she hal prophesied had
OVertaken Us. In her temper of so
many months nov, it was doubly hard.
But it seems that / knew as little of
women as she of men. and bad miseal-
cuated the depth of her goodness IN
beneath 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 inter
ruption, 10 angry expression, no scorn-
fui look. I cav the hand with which
she held the child tighten found his
body; the one playing with his curls
tremble. But that was all.
When I had finished she looked up.
and said quietly ct is better to know
the worst, George, for then We can meet
it. Now that I know the worst I know
what TO DO.
"And you do not reproach me,
Edith ?" l asked.
She rose from her seat and came over
to me. Her eyes were full of tears,
her lips were quivering, ard yet there
was more love, more softness in her
face through its sorrow than there had
been for all these long bad weary
months, passing now into years.
Ste slid the boy from her arms and
pressed them round my neck.
Why should 1 repr0ach you p she