Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-10-17

~ JOul oOul SOOu w lOdNO oh ollh
dressesPh
She has advised me to do so; and,
as you observe, am wearing stuff
gown. l will no more indulge in friv-
olities of dress"
Nor wear jewelry, l presumePn
will not if auntie objects to it."
And you'd be ready to live on roots
nextr'
81 am sure auntio would not pre-
scribe me root diet unless she were
persuaded that it would be for my BEN
eft" This was Helen's digniied re-
joinder.
Ah, well, then," calculated Merry
dew, with his hands in his pockets, eff
we are to give up all the luxuries in life
and content ourselves with necessaries,
we shall find our present income ample,
and we need not banker after Aunt
Prue's fortune"
Lam not hankering after it. How
dare you say such thingP" exclaimed
Helen, flushing. " If poor, dear auntie
were ruined 1 should not abate my at
tentions to her one jot, but only cherish
her the more for her misfortune. 1t is
out of dutifulness that l endeavor to
please her."
In making this fine profession Helen
tibbed. The poor woman was, IN truth,
so absorbed by the prospect of her in
heritance that her whole moral nature
had become warped. And she had lost
some of her personal attractions beside,
for her brow was contracted into the
frown of those who are engrossed by an
tdee fre, and her voice had grown, turn
by turn, shrill and hypocritical-hypo-
critical when she was in auntie's pres
ence, shrill when she talked to her hus-
band. Nor was this all, for in con-
stantly stalking her hopes upon for
tune which was still out of reach, like
the bird in the bush, Helen had parted
with a good deal of the caution in mon
ey matters which characterizes good
wives and mothers. A curmudgeon as
regards her own and her husbands
personal expenditure, she grew to be
prodigal concerning the general outlay
for her household. No dishes were too
good for Aunt Prue's table, no furni-
ture too costly for her apartments.
Helen actually caused a pavilion to be
built in the garden, that auntie might
n"'0 e"lAnih1l OV"tsO" lelhoIe lIoLl
the noises OF the road her next step
was TO declue that ordinary schools
were not good enough for her two boys,
aged nine and ten, who were fated to
be rich with Aunt Prue's wealth; so she
must needs send the pair of them to
Eton at a cost of e400 a year. Now, as
Jack Merrydew's income did not ex-
ceed E6O0 per annum, it came to pass
that one summer he had tO come tn
London and sell out a little invested
capital in order to square his years
budget.
Unlucky trip! Jack drew E1 900 from
the hands of his stockbroker, and when
he held this sum he was suddenly
tempted by the devil to do a strange
thing. The life he had been leading for
few days at a London hotel offered
such a contrast to the miserable exist
ence he had been eking out at home,
that the prospect of returning to put his
neck under Aunt Prue' yoke seemed in
tolerable; so that Jack resolved to ac-
cept the invitation of an old club chum
and go yachting for three months in
the Mediterranean. This resolution he
took on the spur of the moment after q
capital little dinner among cronies, and
he wrote about 1t to his wife in these
terms:
NV Dp,p Hp,rvI sord nov, esoo. .to
other f500 boon Tor ON ',iyJ, - o,i ' Sn1
self want rest and raiaxSstio,S " TbJ H NY
life which Amt Prme has made mo iea5 Uouid "a
kin me II nrolonSed Nv love @ ~ re1 fbe hovs
Nv newt Letter Viii 5e from weS love 10 Tue oOys
shall return to, let me hope, more cheerful
home by Christmas probably. Your affec-
'lona'e JACK,
foor JACK! ne mad not calculated the
enect OF TINS blameworthy proceeding,
Tor Dlameworthy 1t was. Trials which
can De borne oy TWO are often too much
TOT one, ana Helen, deserted by her
husband naturally fell more complete
~ under Aunt frue's thraldom. She
was moreover, wounded to the quick
by what she considered loveless, un-
manly act, lnsomuch that her aunt had
no difficulty in persuading her that a
a man VINO leaves his wife to go ged-
Ding, must have some other kirtle in
view: " This" said Aunt Prue en-
phatlcally' " is my experience of men. ="
30 on arriving at Alexandria after a
lazy three months cruise, Jack found a
ietter which had been sent him by a
lawyer and which ran to this effect:
" Dear SIR am instructed to sue against
t you tor a decree OF Judicial separation, In the
% ai't i a. Sauees; NY cllent