Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1877-11-30

''No, let me tell you while can. We
had guarreled-John and I-you have prob
ably surmIsed that; bat the night before ]
left him he came home to me, drunk"
"Heleul"
Don't speak, mother; let me tell you
while cam" and the voice was sharp with
pain. at was nearly midnight when he
came; he was long time fumbling with
the latch-key, and when he stumbled ND ia
our room, my heart stood still with horror
He did not know that was awake; and /
waited till be was sleeping heavily beside
me; then 1 rose, turned the gas up to q
broad blaze, and looked at him-mv hus
band Ny face must have been fightful
to see, in its wrath and desperation, and my
hands were clenched till the nails made
marks in the palms, saw them next day;
l did not feel them then. All the Stanton
pride rose within me, ard hated him-h, t.
ed him for the insult he had put upon me, +
and she rose half to her feet, her dark eyes
flashing fire. "Before John awoke next
morning, l had left his house, to take the
first train home to you. lie wrote me one
letter, but 1 returned it,unopened, and with
out one word of comment. L never answered
one curious question; 1 was too proud to
teli even you my disgrace, and yen took
me in, and loved me, and believed in me
because [ was your child, my dear, good
mother" andpIIelen reached up and kissed
the eEivering face above her. 1t was toe
often that they sat thus, the mother and
daughter. Weak, little Mrs. Stanton, since
her husbands death, had grown to lean on
and be caressed by the strong, self con-
strained daughter, and the larger nature as
serted itself, as 1t always will.
"But the trouble did not come all at once;
it was growing, growing through all the six
years Of our married life; and, mother, /
have come to think thatit was not all nv
husbands fault-that | was as much ia
blame as he" The mothers lips opened to
speak an indignant renonstranco, but Hell
ems hand quickly closed item. Il was not
all that wife should be; you know my
proud, imperious temper ] wonld brook
no restraint, would yield nothing of nv
viii to his, though I claimed of him all the
devotion of a lover, When he come home
from the cfice, wearied and worried I re-
sented every fretful word he spoke; when
little differences arose between us, which
might have been smoothed away with love,
would not, but let them grow and grow
until coldness sprang up between US.
Ny husband did rot often stay with me
evenings, at last, and many times when he
came home | suspected that be bad been
drinking. Oh, if had told him my fears,
and been kinder to him, perhaps all wonld
have been well; Int fed on my anger;
and when, one Gay, woman, friend,
she called herself, oh, mother"-and the
poor girl half raised herself, and buried her
face in her mothers bosom-''she t1ld me
that my husband was learning to love the
smiles of another! | hated her for telling
me, but I belieYed it, and accused him. with
bitter, writhing scofn, and showed him 70
sign of The agony that vas breaking my
heart. And it was that night that he added
the last drop to my cup of humiliation
~ told you, mother, Lbat l had been
thinking; it was Of my solemn marriage
covenant. took him for better and for
worse, and when the worse come / left
him; and the resolve l have made is to
send for my husband to come to me-"
'You shall not, Helen" said the mother;
'you are here with me, and you shall new
-er humiliate yourselfto that man. 0, if
your father were only herel'
"Dear mother, if my father had been here
l should have gone back to my husband
be fore year lad widcned the breach be.
tween rs. lie was just, as well as proud,