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

The fact is, we were b 10Th too young
TO marry. She was eighteen, I was
barely in my majority but she was a
poor desclate little orphan sent out into
the cold world to do the best she could
for herself as a gOverness; 1 was madJy
In love with her, and I was my own
master; we had no wiser heads to advise
Us and no more experienced hands to
guide us-sO we took our own way, as
was but natural, and married on my
clerkship of three hundred a year. /
need scarcely say we were happy. For
the first two years, indeed, it seemed to
me as if I had never really lived until
now. Our pretty little home at Kill
burn was bright and cheerful. Edith
was always afTectionate, always good
tempered, and, like Annabel Lee. seem
ed to live with no other thought than
TO love and DE loved by me-" Ny work
sat on me easily; and being young peo-
pie of moderate tastes, we had money
enough for all we wanted. There was
not a flaw anywhere, and the days were
scarcely long enough for the Joy that
filed them with sunshine from begin
ming to end.
All this continued for two years, and
then my wife became a mother.
This was the frat break In cur man
Der OF life-the first shadow cast over
the brightness Of our happy love. It
changed the whole order of things, and
the change told heavily against me.
Edith was no longer my companion as
she had been. TIE baby was delicate,
and her health also gave way. She was
obliged to go to her own room quite
early IN the evening, sometimes at seven
o'clock or SO, and even when she was
well she was up in the morning with
the child, and the evenings hung on me
heavy and long. l was no student in
those days. 4 was social, and if not in
ordiuately, yet undoubtedly fond Of
amusement; hence, sitting alone for all
these hours after my solitary dinner
for Edith dIned early by the doctors
ordeEs-was weary work for me, and 1
grew daily more fretted by the dizziness
of my once sunshiny home.
l tell the story just as it was not t.
excuse myself, but to explain.
Also, too, the desire for more expe-
rience natural to my age began to make
itself felt, and more than once I found
myself cOlfessing, GO We married too
young" Yet I did not wish for dissi-
patton / was not conscious Of reserve
Of wild oats that [ was longing to SOW,
but l did want q little change from the
monotony Of my spoiled home. was
yearning for the society Of men of my
own age and standing, and naturally
the boy, though I loved him well
onOUgh-fOr all that Thought him the
UglIest and Oldest ilt.Ie imp I had ever
seen-was not to me what he was to his
mother. To her, indeed, he was every
thing. The mother had superseded the
wife, and the husband was nowhere IN
comparison, with the child. Edith was
angry too that did not, as she phrased
IT. take TO him more" and I was
angry that she took to him so much.
May be that / was jealous. On looking
back | should say that was.
Just when BERTHE was three months
Old fellow in our Office introduced me
TO Jack LanghOrne. Handsome, we'll
hammered, rich, gay, goOd-tempered, +.
generous, Jack was just the man TO fas /
clnsta a comparatively raw lad, as
still was. He knew everything, being
one of the kind who start at seventeen /
rs men, and see life" systematically
from that time. There was not an nc
1mplishment III which he was not pro
ticieut; not game he could not play,
giving long odds and winning. He was
lavish of his money, and a gambler by
inbred instinct. He was always stalking
his fate on chance, ard hitherto chance
had been his friend. He used often to
say that he had been too lucky, and that
he should have to pay for 1t before he
had done. Nevertheless the day OF pay
mont gave no sign of dawning, and Jack
went on stalking and lending, backing
the right color and the winning horse
as if no had private NostrOdamus at
his elbow, and could read the future as
other men could read the past.
I dare say many of my readers will
laugh at me for the confe sion, but
mad never seen a race until Jack Long
horne took me down to the Derby on
his drag. It was a day both OF great
enjoyment and great excitement to me,
for under his auspices l was wild with
pleasure: perhaps, too, the champagne
counted for something IN my hllarltys
AS l took home to Edith sixth of my
yearly income, made IN fewer hours
than 1t took me to cara my paltry dur
nal guinea Visions OF fortune. golden
and bright, passed b-fOr- nay eyes, and
already I saw Edith queeniDg It in the
park with her high-steppng bays and
faultIess turnout. She should have
everything money could command
Whatever else my visions showed me
she was always foremost IN my thoughts
and highest in my hopes.
But when I gave her the money she
turned away from me coldly, and IA min
ute after had buried her face in the
pillow Of the sofa where she was lying
and was sobbing. l was a good deal
surprised, a little shocked, and greatly
hurt had Letc5 use the harsher
word aud say v,zed-at this outourst.
I did not sec the sod OF IT, and I did
not understand it. Besides, 1t chiIls
man so painfully to be received with
cOldness and tears after such a day as /