Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1879-06-10
Preaching and Practices
A DOMESTIC STORY.

OOl HUtIlau w Ldu 10 GuOOSdiit
pities it is for herW said Mrs. Grimes,
| it. # my husband were to act SO it
would kill me-"
81 could never stand it in the world
added Mrs. Pitts. at is dreadful
situation for q woman to be placed in !
Mr.. Larkin used to be one of the best of
| men, and took the best possible care of
| his family. For years there was not q
happier woman in town than his wife,
and now it make ones heart ache to
| look at her. Oh it must be one of the
most heart-rending things In the world
to have drunken husband"
"Well, all I've got to say" spoke up
Mrs. Peters with warmth, sis, that [
don't pity her much"
"Why, Mrs. Peters! How can you
talk so?''
"WelI, I don't. any woman who will
| live with drunken husband don't de-
serve pity. Why don't she leave him ?"
''That is easier said than done, Mrs.
Peters"
81 should think it great deal easier
to leave than to live with a drunken
husband, and have my life tormented
out of me. II NY husband were to do
SO, l would part before TWEEN ty-four
hours"
Now, Mrs. Peters husband was q most
excellent man, and sober man withal,
and his wife was tenderly attached to
him. In regard TO his ever becoming q
drunkard, she had as little fear as Of his
running of and leaving her. Still,
when she made this last remark, she
looked toward him for he was presently
with a stern and significant expression
on her countenance. This was not real
| ly meant for him, but for the imaginary
individual she had supposed as bearing
the relation toward her Of q drunken
| husband.
You would, would you ?" Mrs. Peters
| replied to the warmly expressed resolu-
ton uttered by his wife.
Eyes, that I would" half laughingly
and half seriously retorted Mrs. Peters.
on don't know what you are talk
ing about" spoke Mrs. Grimes.
Indeed, then, / dol | consider any
woman a fool who will live with a
drunken husband. For my part, [ have
not q spark of sympathy for the wives
of drUnkards-I mean those who live
with the men who beggar and abuse
them. Mere disgusting brutes-the very
sight Of whom ought to turn q woman S
stomach
| You were never placed in such a
situation, and therefore are not COM
petent to decide how far woman who
continues to live with a drunken hus-
| band is or is not to blame. For my part,
| am inclined to think that, in most
cases, to live with a husband under these
circumstances is the least of two evils. -
| This was said by Mrs. Pitts.
Il think you are right there" resum.
ed Mr. Peters. IA woman feels toward
her own husband, the father of her chill
dren, and the man who in life's spring
time won her best and purest affections,
very differently from what she does to-
ward another man. She knows all his
good qualities, and remembers how ten
derby he has loved her, and how he
would still love her but for the mad in
fatuation from which he feels it imp0s-
sible to break away. The hope that he
will reform never leaves her. When
she looks at her children, even though
hope for their father, and this hope keeps
her up"
"Any woman is fool to feed herself
I'D with such fancies. There is only one
true remedy, and that is separation
that's what I'd do, and every woman CT
sense ought to do. Don't tell me about
hope of reforming. It's all nonsense.-
You wouldn't catch me breaking my
heart after that fashion for any man.
Not [ ~ said Mrs. Peters.
The more Mrs. Grimes, and Mrs. Pitts,
and others present, argued their side OF
the question, the more pertinaciously
did she maintain tie position she mad
assumed, until Mr.. Peters could not
help feeling somewhat vexed and some
little hurt He being her husband, was
the only one who could possibly hold
the relation toward whom alllher indig-
nation was directed, under the imagin-
ed possibility of his becoming tippler.
After while the subject was dropped,
and at the close the evening the friends
senarated, and went to their homes.
It was, perhaps, two months from The
period at which this conversation oc
Cured. that Mr.. Peters left his home
early in the evening to attend a political
meeting, politics at the time running
high, and hard cider flowing as free as
water. He was in the habit of attend
ing such meetings, and of partaking of
his portion Of the cider, and at times
something stronger; but as he was a