Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1880-01-10
MASTERED BY PASSION.


was defending her young and pretty
cousin, who had been not quite two
years the wife of Charles Gray.
still" said Susan Adams. another
cousin, II must say that she is much to
blame. Her husband is one of the kindest
and best of men, and / know that she
often makes him unhappy. She might
act differently if she would"
II am not sure of that" returned Han
nah. "She is not to blame for the evil
disposition which was born in her. She
cannot help her own nature. No two of
us are alike in all our feelings, and we
are all apt to act about as We feel. 1t Is
unfortunate that some people are dis
eased; but cannot say that those are 10
blame who have inherited their disease
from their ancestors. And so 1t Is with
our disposition"
But" suggested Susan, that person
who has inherited disease which works
mischief not only to herself, but to all
around her, is certainly to blame ii she
does not make any exertiOn to get rid of
it."
"Aye," Suggested Hannah, "but there..are
diseases which cannot be blamed for her
feelings, because they come in spite of
her, and when they have come she can
not hide them.
Aunt Annie DismOre laid her knitting
work aside and gravely shook her head.
Hannah" she said, with deep sOlem-
nifty, you may at some time be another;
and when that time comes, let me urge
you not to teach your children the doe
trine you have been uphOlding here.
Aunt Annie was such good, kind
woman, and she loved us all so well, and
did so much for our happiness, that
even Hannah Cleaves was respectfully
silent beneath the gentle reprOOf.
"A little while ago" our aunt went on,
you were speaking of willful people.
Now, / admire strong self-will when it
is bent i'm the right direction. The nOblest
of Gods creatures are those who have
strong Wills. The Christian martyrs
were extremely self-willed. Self-will is
beneficial force when it is made to up
hold virtue and goodness. And cultivate
self-will as much as you please, and
make it subservient to right. fear the
trouble with Ruth Gray is that she has
no self-will. What you can call self
will in her is only perverseness, an in
consistency. She exercises no will at
all, but is the creature of circumstance,
suffering herself to be swayed to and fro
across her path"
When Aunt Annie laid her knitting
work upon the table, and folded her
hands in her lap, we knew she had some
thing of interest to say to us, for she was
not a woman who talked for the sake of
talking.
81 tell you, girls" she said, "we can if
we will? If we will do right, we can do
right. She who practically denies this
casts aside the very foundation of virtu-
GUS character, and erects her structure
Of life upon basis of sand. | am going
to tell you story of my own life. You
call me good, and l think am good to
you. At all events l try to be so. But
my goodness of temper came to me
through mighty effort of will, as you
shall see. When was young was more
perverse that your cousin Ruth ever was.
MY temper was quick and high; / was
subject to fits of dependency that made
all around me miserable; and excused
myself upon the plea that such was my
nature-and l could not help it. When
became the wife of Jacob DinsmOre l
was very happy, and 1 thought myself
very fortunate, for knew had won for
a husband one of the best young men in
town. Your Uncle Jacob was then just
what he is nOw-kind, generous loving,
fOrbearing and faithful to fault. For
the first six months of our marriage life
did not allow my bad temper to show
itself very much; but at length my honey
moon waned, and my old feelings began
to manifest themselves. became, in
short, just what l was before / was mar
ried. People called me self-willed, but
had no self-will. did not will to be
cross and petulent. / was cross and
petulent because l had no will to be
otherwise. Sometimes / had bad feel
ings, and had no will to overcome them.
The slightest thing tina. crossed me
found me so utterly devoid of will that it
swayed me at its pleasure. At the end of
two years there was more of misery than
Ofhappinesss in my home and | could not
hide from myself the fact that was the
cause of it all; and yet tried to con-
vince myself that was not to blame.
When my mother talked with me, /
declared that [ could not help it,
and when my husband ventured to
allude to the subject 1 flew into pas
sion. / could not bear Gliding from
him. In fact, his very kindness and
goodness sometimes fretted me; and
when he offered to point out to me my
errors it seemed as though he were
preaching to me, and would not listen.
"Girls, tell you truly when / say that
/ believe no one was ever more firmly
fixed in the habit of ill-feeling than /
was at that time, and did certainly
then believe that could not help it.
Some time before we were married
there had been volunteer artillery COM
pany in our town, and, as Jacob was the
only commissioned officer living in the
town itself, he took charge of the property
which belonged to the corps, thus retain
ing control of the two handsome cannon.
One royal birthday the tOwnspeOple raised
money for celebration of the occasion,
and, among other things, salute to be
fired in the morning, at noon, and at sun
down, of which my husband was to have
charge.
During the day / received an invita-
ton to join some friends in a sail upon
the river, and, as / could not very well
go to the landing alone, asked Jacob to
90 with nae. He said it would interfere
with other duties, and he could not g..
asked him if he thought the firing of the
salutes was Of more importance than the
making of happiness for his wife, and.
when he had fOiled me at this argument,
asked him why he could not let some
one else take charge of the cannon. He
answered me calmly and candidly that
ne dared not trust the gun in other hands.
he was the only one who understood how
to properly handle it, and he felt Obliged
W attend 10 II. He told me how many