New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-09-03
A FAIR COMPENSATION.
BY ALBERT F. WEBSTER.

BY ALBERT F. WEBSTER
A city clerk, engaged to be married, hav
ing. between the ages of twenty one an.
twenty -four, mastered three foreign Ian
guages, to enable him to be of service t,
his firm, and having therefore been trans
ferred from the outer Office, where it wa
light and sunny, to the parlors, where al
was rich and gloomy. and having toiled Al
general correspondence and general man
sgement ten hours out Of every twenty
four for five years longer, finally yielded te
nature, and became ill.
The Junior partner, who commonly illus
trated the human instincts of the firm, said
"Perhaps you would do we'll to take day
A run up Harlem Lane, now, or stroll in
the Park, would build you mp wonderfully y
Phosphorus was not to be had 60 easily,
and Fades returned to his work with q sen.
sation of great roominess in the upper part
of his head.
1t was Friday, and it was necessary that
the foreign mail should be written for the
Saturday steamers. The faithful slave,
with dull eyes and trembling hands, worked
until IL p. M, and then fell in dead faint
into the arms of the p0st-messenger and the
c0py-clerk. But not until he had directed
his last letter.
On the next day he was told by Q physi-
clan that he must give up business for
eighteen months or two years. He whis-
pered, Impossible" and sent for another
adviser. This gentleman amended matters
by saying. "Three years and total change
OF scene and climate"
At the end of the week the girl OF his
heart was finally permitted to 60 to his bed
side. She entered the room with the tread
of hare but with tho spirit of volcano.
She paused beside him, filed with sorrow
and amazement She sank upon her knees
and buried Der face in the palms of his
hands and hers. After an hour she found
coherent use OF her tongue, and suggested
immediate marriage.
Never" cried he, with the flush of
man Of pride.
Forever" cried she, with the smile of an
angel. Then they fell into argument. 1t
lasted, with intervals, for three days.
He claimed, Of course, that it would be
cruel to entail upon her the aggravated
made q wife; also that, as q matter of pure
justice, it was wrong to start upon . CO.
partnership with tangible disability upon
one side; again, as matter of hygiene, that
it would be clearly dangerous for sus-
ceptible yet entirely healthy mental organ
ization to be under the facilitating influ. |
ence of one vitiated by exhaustion. There |
would be drain without COULTER drain, |
and so it would end in the illness of both; |
then, again, viewing sentiment as living |
element IN all human complications how |
hard it would be to relinquish forever
the delicate joys Of final cUurtship and
the sweet tervor of the honeymoon,
and to experience in their place the
solicitudes Of thel'sick. chamber! How sad
it would be hereafter to associate their
early married lite, not with ardent hopes
and the sunshine of unburdened hearts,
but with invalidism and apprehensons.
To this the reply was general, and was
like the bursting of sunlight upon CANDLE
lighted chamber. The feeble rays of Fades
persuasion turned pale and then went ont.
Glow unworthiiy you speak! How is it
pretend that love, the supreme method of
God, is nothing but human passion! The
law permits us to be nearer to one another,
but what shall determine at what time we
may or may not bear one anotber's ills!
Does not the love Of this tender office come
with the need of it, and without q squirt
Doee not the grace of loving heart fall
like dew. without . commotion, with
out cloud9 Let rs begin our lives by |
correcting an evil; it is tar better than wait
ing for chance to perpetuate what is only |
happy" An 80 on, by snatches and runs,
now falterinE and now eloquent, but al. |
ways illogical. Still, the argument, aided
" it was BY many tears and by the most |
face in the world, did its work.
/
worn friends. and were married with all
lue rites. Three hours later the wife ap-
'eared in gray travelling suit, which be-
,ame her well Fades asked her where she
vas going. He was still in bed
ITO South Carolina" che replied. II
earn that there is township there the eli
nate OF which is delightful at this season {
f l am satisfied. then we shall 90 there at
nee to live until Won recOvern I
1t amused him to sec her pretend to pull
AZ gloves on; for five minutes she tried to b
i the left in place OF the right. He said, L
You are going to walk there, l fancy"
hen she broke down like bubble, and ran o
nd threw her arms abast his neck. q
"Oh, my poor husband, how hard it Q
GEMS to leave you, even to the care of +
All my prayers that l might be a
rave at this moment have failed me; and
re, am crying like q child! Even you. il
18th your sunken cheeks and hollow eyes, Il
Sem stronger than /. / can not pretend
nat am bold any longer; have prayed g
nat God may guide our footsteps, and lead t.
8 where we shall be secure" A
In this humble mood she went away. u
just as her carriage departed, another Il
rived. 1t contained an aged man, q O
lend of her husband. He was shown to | v
10 invslid's chamber without delay. He u
as slow OF speech, and his voice was SUBJ | q
ades" II
Eyes, to the South. somewhere. Nv wife II
- gone to search for q good climate"
1t was the first time that the words Il
ny wife" had passed his lips. The
tterance apparently COMPOUNDED both the
,eaker and the listener. The face of one To
rew slowly radiant, while the face Of the
her became inmeasurably grave. pl
Yes, We are going to the South some 81
here" repeated the young man. Your en-
me was there once, was it not, sirgv AZ
''Yee. for fifty years. My wife is there tb
W. We we're estlanged by the war" an
"Msn and wife estranged by the warw pa
Ides sat up for the first time. This in
smed to him to be an intOlerable sarcasm. he
should have believed just az easily that :
ur own body and soul had taken sides do
sinst each other on account of the war" te
Yes, no doubt, replied the visitor, after hs
ause. no
And do understand that this estrange- m,
Mt still exists9" Fl
We have not heard of each other for five We
rs." tai
Of each other9" Oy
VS." wa
Implying, of course, that You have not sid
I'd from each other during that periodw sos
No, nor for tho fourteen years that have a
,sed since 1861" wa
Merciful Hesvenr wit
sdes sank down again and considered
Q statements. So long - he could hold ag'
q in mis- head he could discover nothing sils
lem but evil, but his weakened brain COT
n to give up it's hold after . few min lip
and his face, not his tongue, express tina
is opinions. His eyes searched the face pre-