The Lake County star., 1877-06-07

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"looks tired when he comes In, ant
wants her to amuse him." And wher
Mrs. Haltoun suggests THAT perhaps
Polly Il not well, he laughs ut the NO
hon. - = III.
Z .She has everything she wants. ex
cept excitement,n he says, land tha
she Is better without" Then he re
peats his phrase about woman's pro
per sphere being her home. AnC
Mrs. 7Haltoun calls him piig In heI
heart but is powerless 10 help her sis
A more utterly uninteresting being
as Tar a. continuous intercourse with
him goes, does not exist on this plea
SAINT earth, than Mr.. 6taunton. He a
methOdical TO an irritating degree, tC
every person who does not believe that
he or she has not place for every
thing, and everything In Its place. He
IL punctual to the point OF being rasp-
ingly ill-humored II he has TO walt q
moment for anything he has ordered
at certain time, even though fate and
uncomfortable circumstances have In
tervened to cause delav, and there has
not been . particle Of carelessness In
the transaction. He fatigues himself
pleasantly every day In hunting OF
cOursing, shooting or fishing, In COM
pany with men who are like-minded
to himself, and SO thoroughly congenial
and acceptxble associates to him. This
being the case, slumbef, - q rule,
claims him FIR her own during the
lOug hours that interviews between din
ner and bedtime; and P6lly's proper
rsphere is the home from which he is
absent all day, aud In which he only
sleeps wher he returns To 1t ut night.
~ III were not tilorpughlyi quite.
well.disposed fellow. Polly Is Just the
woman to drive me from home" Mr..
Staunton sometimes tells himself vir-
tuously, when he wakes up from q
prolonged and happy sleep to find
Pt lily sitting mOtionless before the
window or the fire according to the
season, gazing with sad, absent ex-
preston into the misty distance over
the woods, or into the fiery vaults, In
which she strives to picture possibil-
ties that might have Interested her
and filed her heart. He is perfectly
satified with himself and his manner
of treating her. She has handsome
house, handsomely furnished, good
establishment, orders to 'dress well,
and Ter him have all the bills" and a
pony carriage to drive about In, when
he doesn't want the pony. BY day
she has the society of her two children
and their nurse he dislikes country
neighbour. and SO insists upon Polly
combining herself to q round of mere
formal visiting. BY night she has the
solace Of her own thoughts, and the
sight of him stepped In slumber on the
most comfortable sofa In any roomthey
may chance to be occupying! Never
theless surrounded az she Is with all
these aids to happiness, 1t IL clear to
every one (but her husband) who sees
her that Polly IL not happy.
The s0lace Of her own thoughts
Poor thing, the one thing round which
her thoughts revolve happily Is the old
life at home, In the little rect0ry,
which he has tried to teach her to de-
spise. Thatis the one stage of her ex-
istence which has been suffered 10
come to perfection aud live itself. Her
childhood fiourished and flowered a
bright, happy, natural, unstpnted
plant! But her girlhood was nipped
in the bud before 1t had been glorified
by one touch of real romance. Her
sister was right In feeling indignant
with Mr.. Staunton for having robbed
the child of that time that Is flooded
with the life's dull light that ne'er
can shine again on streaIn"-he mar
rled Polly before she had tasted the Joy
and pain of the fever called "frst
love-"
Mr.. Staunton had a vast number of
theories concerning Polly, and he pro-
pounded great many of them to her
sister Belle whenever he saw the lat
ter. One was. that retirement was
good for his wife; another, her brief
experience of life had given her a
taste for gaiety which he could not
sufficiently condemn, though she never
spoke aboatit! Another was that a
woman who was 30 systematically
"silent az Polly was, when In the So
ciety of the most considerate of hus-
bands" must either be burdened with
q sulky temperament or a sorrowful
secret.
II think It's simply that she has
nothing to say" Belle would answer
sadly. ,.,g.t,t, INA
"fhen you imply that she Is stupid" "
mot at all but woman, In order
to speak well land, unless she speaks
well, she had better hold her peace),
must have education, experience and
frequent intercourse with others who
have likewise something to say on the
same grounds" ,l.~.g.
"PoIly belongs to class of society
which presupposes that she has these
advantages" he interrupts.
"Society may presuppose what 1t
pleases. She has nothing of the kind, /"
the elder says bluntly. You cut
short her education at home. you did
away with the possibility of her gain
ing any experience in the best school
house q woman can have-love-and
you immure her here In the most
stultifying Of all atmospheres-com-
Portable solitude; how should Polly
gain ideas? And even II they do
spring up in such poor soil, how is she
to learn the art Of expressing them In
words?--from her babies or her nurse?"
'"You forget that she has me-" he
says stiffly.
"She has you to tell her. when you're
In the vein, of what you and your gun
did upon the hills in India; and for cur
rent history you give her details of
Ponto's lameness, and the Loughbur-
row hunt. Polly has no memories,
excepting Of the sudden way In which
you swooped down upon her, and ask
ed her to marry you, before you had
taught her what love was. BE thank
full that she has not created hopes for
herself"
Zone would think 1 had wronged
her. he says, discontentedly. al!
who have given her a good home, my
name-everything I had to give, In
fact"
"You robbed her Of the period Of IL
iusion, !" the elder sistsr answers. "And
a woman who sklps that will always
be looking vaguely for the missing
linku between herself and happiness.
You should have been contented with
giving her the bon bons, rs / advised
you, q little longer; you should have
let her live TO feel that the sun was
brighter to her when some one comes,
and to grow desperate over the possi-
bility Of not seeing him fOrtwehty-f0ur
hours in fact you should have let her
suffer and refine herself into woman
hood, instead OF jerking her into IL, as
you did. Now, all that remains for you
II to bear your disappointment like q