The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-09-04

come from the other side. ''Pitiful?''
she repeated.
eyes. He say he done married her,
but he hab not glib US up yit. Yer see,
! him ami me we nebber was not presackly
married. We nebber go .befo' de par
son. We only jest TUX out de license, so
ter speak
Milly evidently considered this inaccu-
racy of slight moment as affecting the
| question.
- Why on earth were you never mar
ried?'' Belle asked, quite impatientiy.
- We allays laid out ter be, him an
me; but somehow we nebber named de
! day. One an anOder OBJ de chillen wud
be sick-I's had a sight oh chillen; l
has buried six. An / has had sickness
myself, de misery in my head, off an
on, all de time. So, as / says, we was
nebber presackly married. -
- You poor thing, you were never
married at all, Belle said.
OATS what he keeps a-tellin' OBJ me
now, miss agreed Milly. Eyes, he
write rale pitifuI like. He say she
de WALLER woman-tuk de waIly OBJ him. -
. Took what? -the value of him?''
/ g Yes, miss, OATS wot he say. She
TUX de wally OBJ him.
- don't understand"
g She got de upper ham oh him.
"Ohi" Apparently, got the advan-
4 tage of him was intended tsThen do
you suppose he was really married to
her.
"Oh yes, miss, heerd all about it
! from dis var frien' OBJ mine dat went
down to Ole Pint. He seed her a-strut-
tin a-roun' wild all her weddin' finery
on. Dressed ter death, he say-all her
close on, an her trunk a-settin' QUITO
doo's airin', as de sayin' isl
Meanwhile A1illy's children stood
around, open-eyed and Open-mouthed.
Certainly they could not be accused of
wearing too many clothes, poor things
One scanty garment for each girl, two
as scanty for the boy, completed their
toilets. - Dey misses der pap poor
/ Milly sighed. Twelve years he done
lib wild me, fust an last, an good hus-
/ BAN he war ter me. No woman need
wish a better. He treated me well as
/ long as he stayed on wild me-
- But don't yOH mean to do any thing ?
/ Can't you force him to come back, or at
least to support the children, or to give
! you money now and then?'' Belle cried.
g No, miss, can't do muffin. 1 see
one lawyer about it. But he tell me I
| has no law on my side. Him an me we
never went befo' de parsOn. We had
Orter ben more pertickler.''
This seemed a sad tale to Belle, told
as it was with the most entire simplicity,
and with a frequent reiteration of its few
facts. Milly told the story, moreover,
as calmly as though it had concerned
some other person. She betrayed no
resentment, no bitterness. She neither
assaulted fate, nor upbraided the man
/ n IA hncnTfnH n h ord
world. These things would happen.
Her troubles did not affect her manners,
however. She now changed the CONVEX
sation, and inquired for Bellies pa and
ma, and for her husband. Then Belle
inquired the children's names. By that
time the rain had stopped, and Belle re-
! quested Peter to bring her horse around.
Peter had tied the mare under the thick
shade of trees. Milly wiped the damp
saddle with her apron, brought forth the
one whole chair, and Belle prepared to
mount. ''Call again, miss, - Milly said,
as her visitor smiled a farewell.
That evening, one or two visitors came
in. Belle, who had a talent for narrat-
ing, related the tale of the deserted
mother and children she had seen that
day.
q If the thing had happened in Cali
fornia, one of the party said, emily
would have been considered the legal
wife. There cohabitation for the short
est possible time constitutes marriage
/ In fact, it is sufficient for Il man to reg
| lister a wOman's name with his at hO-
! tel to make her his wife,
80 That has its disadvantages, too, -
Belle objected. q prefer that the
marriage service should be more en-
| phasized :"
''DesertiOn for a certain length of
time, on the other hand, always has been
considered 4 sufficient excuse for a di-
vOrce,'' pursued some one else.
Belle started. Odd as it may seem,
she had never until to-day bestowed
many thoughts upon divorce and the
laws that governed it. 1t suddenly Oc-
Cured to her that she was now prac-
tically divorced from Miles She won
dered whether in any State in the Union
the term OF their separation would be re-
garded as furnishing a sufficient pretext
for legal sundering of their union A
nervous chill seized her. She knew so
little of these things. Who could tell
what pitfalls she had fallen into without
knowing it? Good gracious! How lit
tie she knew of the world! If Miles
were only here now, that she could rush
to him and throw her arms about him,
and tell him what uncomfortable
thoughts were in her mindi After all,
there was no one like Miles in all the
wOrld-no one she could talk to, talk
herself out to, as she could to him. OF
course there was not. Wasn't he her
own, part of herself? Oh, Miles! dar-
ling Miles! why had she left him?
horror of the distance between them
came over her-a horror of the days it
would take to get to him. She felt that
she should scream.
Meanwhile the others went on talking
- ColOred people have so little sense of
the sanctity of the marriage tie,' her
mother was saying - Most of them are
in the condition of the woman of Sa-
maria, who, having had seven husbands,
could not be said to be married to the
last. My own conviction is that nothing
but death can dissolve the marriage
| bond
'' You don't believe, - Frank Lee said,
flippantly, :" in the proposed amendment
to the marriage service: so long as We
both shall lore ?'''
% That is perfectly horrid,' - spoke up
Belle. Mamma, agree with you en-
tirely. Once married, always married.
Why, st. Paul did not even believe in
widows marrying again. l am of st.
Paul's opinion.
"You always were an extremist, .
laughed Judge Drake. However, l
have no doubt that Miles would indorse
your VIEWS
The next day Belle put up bundle of
clothes that would either fit Milly or else