The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-01-26


abled YOU to save more than half your
earnings. do think it is as little as you
could do to give me an allowance. Two
dollars a week would keep the children
and myself decently clad. If there was
anything over, | should be able to hire
a day or two's work done, occasionally,
for am doing too much work, Charles.
| am giving out. You cannot help see
ing it for yourself."
MARY, you know Just as well as |
why it stands us in hand to save every
cent we can. You know that, when we
get so much, then the warfare will cease
and we will live in peace and plenty"
You may, but never will"
81 would like to know if l am not
Just as likely to die as your"
Let us stand together before the
glass and see for yourself In this strug-
gle for your stipulated sum, my dear
husband, my labor is three times as
hard as yours, with increasing cares
coming on every year. Before your
time is out shall have died by the way
and you will be left to enjoy your hard
gotten gains alone with the children, or
L
whom. You know already that there
is something the matter with my heart
and that | ought to see a physician
about it; but you fear he will run up Il
long account which you will have to
pay. 1t does seem to me, sometimes,
that you value just one dollar more than
you do my life"
There, there, l won't talk with you
any more. ] dare say | feel as badly
as you sometimes; but am not going to
run to the doctor with my ache and
pain. / am overworked, too"
sit maybe; but l should consider
ten hours a day, seated at your desk
writing. easy work when compared
with mine. You could not hire a wom-
an to do all that | do for less than three
dollars a week. Washing and ironing
and all the housekeeping falls upon
my shoulders, when Ihave Just as much
other work Us Ought to do. You have
your mornings and evenings to rest,
while there is no rest for me any hour
of the day. have to be the last one
to bed, the first one up, and, looking
over our account book to-day, | found
Out that in three years | had cost yOn
just three dollars and seventy-fve cents.
What do you think of that?''
THAT is falser' he exclaimed, rising
from his seat, quivering with rage.
Mrs. Gretchum was very much alarmed
for she had never tried reasoning with
her husband before.
81 don mean the board included, -"
she added, hastily, "but for clothes.
Whenever you give me money, | have
to spend it for the children. | thought
you didn't know it, so concluded |
would tell you,' she added, ruefully.
''There is the book, examine it for your
SELF
"A brawling woman | despise," he
muttered, bitterly, snatching up his hat
and leaving the house.
"What have l done?n she gasped.
go my Father in heaven, why hast
Thou forsaken me? Thou knOwest !
meant it all in love. l thought men
didn' know about such matters, and he
would feel differently if he only knew,
and | have driven him from the house.
Dear Lord, how long wilt Thou permit
poor women to be trampled uponP o
Lord, was it not enough that she gave
birth to the Savior of the world to take
away the curse that fell upon her in the
Garden of Eden o my Lord! o my
Saviorn'
All but the first four words was a
prayer uttered with a heart almost
breaking in anguish.
The children were asleep, and back
and forth she paced in the solitude of
her own chamber, upbraiding herself
bitterly. She had not been so patient
as a wife should be. Her husband was
good. He was a very angel. Every
good action he had ever done in his life
She magnifed until she brought herself
to believe that he had been all right and
she wrong. He had never left her be-
fore of an evening, and now she was
alone until midnight's solemn hour, and
away beyond. "Oh, if the Lord will only
return my husband,' she vowed again
and again, " | never will ask him for a
cent of money again; no, not if freeze
in tags and rags"
At two o'clock in the morning she
heard the dead-latch key, and with a
wildly-beating heart she waited for him
to come upstairs.
He brought the first strong smell of
whisky that had ever been in the room.
go my husbandn' she exclaimed,
flinging her arms around his neck,
- forgive me for this one time, and |
will never, never ask you for cent
again. You know love you, and want
to help you carry out all your plans. "
go no." he said, bitterly "Spend
all you want for tomfoolery,' and I'll
try to be even with you in whisky"
In vain she pressed fearful kisses
upon his lips, his eyes, his cheeks; he
remained like stone, and the poor wife
turned away, murmuring: "My pun
ishment is greater than l can bear, -
and calling upon God to witness the
vow she had just made-to never, never
again ask her husband for a cent OF
money as long as she lived.
Days and weeks passed, while the
little wife tried every artifice in her
power to win back the smiles of her
frowning lord, She went to bed hun
cry, day after day, denying herself
of food that she might be able to pre-
pare all the dainties that her husband
loved so well, until the cheeks became
more sunken, the eyes more heavy, and
the once-beautiful figure more STOPPING.