The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-01-02

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your wives even as Christ also loved Il
I ehgFehfp ET'hcse were not words thl
touched or helped his sorrow; he shol
ed his book aside and hid .his-faeein h
hands with a groan if ne had spoke
ont the thought of his heaf9 hJwoul
have been:
"What am Igoing TO do without her
Who viii see that my dinners are in.
right and my shirts properly ironed
Who will take care of me when al
sickp' GThe squire was martyr I
dyspepsia, his friends said "I neve
shall have any comfort Of my If
now; the children must be attended to
and Bridget looked after. and | shal
have to do the marketing. Oh dear
poor little Nellyl / shsll miss her ever
day; what shall doP'1
No doubt some softer ideas mingle,
now and then with these lamentations
but in the whole Mr.. Potter's grief wa
selfish, for.he was a selfish man and
tree is known by its fruit He sat
long time alone in The library, thinking
how dreadfully be felt and wondering
what would become of him, quite forget
tul OF the lonely. children left to Bridg
cts tender nercies, who had the din
ner to provide for and to cook, and ne
time to spare for compassion and con
soling. But after a while he reused
himself for the minister came in, enc
having offered such spiritual Consolation
as be Knew how, being very young
man and lately settled in Riverton, he
asked if be could do any friendly Office
Tor Mr.. Potter, Telegraph TO any rela-
tives, or arrange for the funeral. The
Squire had quite forgotten that Anne
Hyde, Nelly's older sister, must be sent
for, to Rockford, where she is teaching
and his brother Pgul in New York must
know too; his other brother was in the
army and stationed now ut some fort IN
the tar West, and Nelly's brother-was a
missionary in Syria; there were no
nearer relatives; Parson HYDE and his
wife were long dead, and his own father
and mother had died before he knew
them. Anne and Paul would be the on
ly available helpers. Esq
When Ben Potter married Nelly HYDE,
she was a bright, sparkling, tender
hearted little woman, with great loving
eyes, that indexed her nature, and a
sweet, expressive face. She was one of
those generous, uhselfsh, afectiOnate
creatures who grow into the Christian
life, under good influences, as the tiny
green bud grows into fragrant and
lovely rose; her father and mother had
been old fashioned saints, after the pat
tern depicted in the cateChi3m, whose
chief end was TO glorify God; and in a
wholesome, cheerful atmosphere of llv-
ing piety, their children had developed
into practical, earnest Christians, ac-
cording to their. several types of char
acter. Anne and Nelly were IS rad
ically different as sisters are apt to be
Anne was rlear-headed, intelligent,
generous, but severely logical;
and there is no logic so incisive as
woman's for she demands it in practice
as well as theory. -a - -e-.
Anne was Just, but Nelly had only one
side toward the sterner traits-she turn
ed them all inward I; she could deny her
self, control her sensitiveness, her tenn
per, her grief or her joy, but she asked
nothing from those around her in re-
urn; She married Mr.. Potter with a
heart full of love and duty 30 him, and
she served him with her whole soul;
but she asked no answering devotion to
reward her, though her soul was hun
yry for love and caresses. After year
II two she slowly discovered that her
was a selfish egotist, and her
heart began to break; for her discovery
Vas rot framed in. such a way as to ex-
,use her own grief; she only blamed
herself that her life had not been salts
wing TO him /; it was her fault that he
vas moody, silent, dyspeptic-in short,
every thing was her fault!
Young, timid, delicate, with two lit
lie children, she spent herself in silent
md lavish endeavor to make her home
ust what should please her husband,
md herself his devoted slave; and with
he Unconscious tyranny of selfish man,
Who fortunes most those whocsn not es-
ape from and dare not resent his OPP
,ressien, ne made her home and her
ife miserable in -fhe- thousand minute
Fays which are ready to the domestic
lespot's hand. No wonder she died.
wo feeble babies preceded her to the 1
a third was. clasped to her
)reast in death, and when Annie bent
'ver the elaborate coffin and beheld
hose wan and waXen faces with the !
lamp of heavenly peace set fair upon
ither brow the bitter words of the
ynic Preacher fell from her lips:
: Wherefore l praised the dead which
re already dead more than the living
Which are yet alive. "
After the funeral was over Mr.. Potter
to Anne that she should give
p her teaching and come and live at
us house to care for him and the chilli
rem. Anne knew him thoroughly; she
ad visited Nellie often enough to see
rhat her husband was, and to pity her
lister with all her tender heart, but she
cit that in Helen's place she would her
elf have done differently. There were
-Ood traits dormant in Ben Potter, but 1
wife, and especially such a.wife as
Nellie, could never call them out. Just
ow, however, she had no excuses for !
i'm in her time; it seemed to her that
e had as much killed her sister and |
ained her life s,if- he were the worst
IAN on earth; and her spirit famed with |
he bitter indignation that loss kindles. |
he was about to refuse his request in |
family and finally, and perhaps would |
avemade some observations more pun
ent than pleasant, but the children |
anne stealing into the room, and, climb
lg into her arms, hung about her neck |
nd covered her with caresses. Poor
tile soulsi their Aunt Anne was all |
hey had left of motherhood, they clung
> her with grasp of despair, as it !
eemed to her excited feelings, she could |
OF answer Mr.. Potter then.
" Think of it, Annel" he said, leaving
er to Nell and Katy. to whom as yet he |
ad not shown any fatherly devotion,
ut who proved now his best friends.
Anne,s plan of life had been to join
er brothers mission in Syria, and |
othing but Nellie's falling health, and |
dream she was afraid to acknowledge |
herself of this very exigency had kept |
er SO long in America Now, as she |
at there with the two tiny creatures
or though they were really five and /