The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-08-04

suDIect Oh remark stepped through
window onto the balcony. "You will
excuse my absence, knowing that chill
dren sctll be regarded before company"
81 have just been sounding your
| praises, my DEAR answered Mr.. Aims
worth, who did not provide his wife
with chair. "Can you bring q
\ cushion for my head, Lucvp These
twisted affairs are simply a form of
torture"
Take this seat instead. 1 do not
mind the knobs If / can talk with Anna, /"
and she lifted large rocker from the
paklor, without remonstrance except q
| faint l.sI
| AREN'T you tired, also? Well, If
you insist" and his statuesque face,
bathed with moonlight, repaid the wife
who did not tire of its rather cold lines.
| On her own countenahce another hand
had craven lines of care, of repression.
and q sort of panied WEAKNESS dimmed
those lustrous eyes which had capti-
waited her lover years ago. Lucy Eve
lyn's youth had vanished almost from
the memory of Robert Ainsworth' s
oyertasked wife, $500,
" How should love to see your hns-
band and children Anna, though
tremble to compare my boys and girls
with those of women who have author
ity, Love is forced to do duty for the
sterner virtues in my discipliner'
my wife will never petition for
leave TO vote, laughed Mr.. iAinsworth.
She is1so busy in her own sphere that
stars may rise and set without disturb
ing her equilibrium. Her influence Is
as silent as-as dew" ended the speak
er, searching In vain for q comparison
rarer. -Hi,fFg3d t1i.ait. 60 .9si- .,i ~
land such q beokworm as you used
to be. Lucy Have you dropped the
habit Of snatching at any bit of informa-
tioni at newspapers, magazines, books,
what not?" - .,iri--- r. -
Mrs. Ainsworth sighed. ...s I.
/ o." Robert was in the habit of reading
to me until Interruptions were endless,
and / decided that il was my duty to
| lay aside an Indulgence that mi ight con-
fict withsduty. My husband is rather
delicate, SO the strain of family care
rests upon me as it would not were he
robust. "
Mrs. :MHler will not envy you your
companion II you allow such inferences
to be drawn, ~ interrupted the gentle
man, in q mortified tone. In
"Why, Roberti AsCif any one could
doubt your willingness to share the
household burdens. There are thou
sand and one tribes which mothers and
housekeepers accept as matter of
course They belong to me, and your
business cares belong to you, and that
is all about it." --s't
Mrs. Miller saw her friends hand
stretched across to the husband as if he
had been a. petted child in need of
soothing, and ne in turn kissed it gall
lantly and laid it back, sealed SO for
fresh tolls. ..l-.
Long after Mr.. Ainsworth had retired
the two women sat talking of all that
had been or had failed to be in unison
with their early hopes. OF all, did
1 say? How. different the most sincere
s'confidence" between girls at the
threshold of life and women whose
deepest experience must lie out. of sight
| and beyond speech. Mrs. Miller very
easily~supplied- hiatus here and
there in Lucy 7Ainsworth's narrative of
herself, and she had no difficulty in de-
] tecting the influence which shaped her
to less noble character than Nature
Il intended. The devoted wife and
mother, with ample means at her
command, was simply the person to
whom each member of the family
appealed for help, and for whom no
one was properly regardful AS days
went be the quiet glance OF Mrs, Miller
penetrated many OF those half-yeiied
secrets by which the animus of q fam
lily is shown. There were order and
beauty in the house, spite of those
needless children, rioting when and
where they please. for Mrs. Ainsworth
had efficient servants who loved her
and forgaye much for her gentle sake.
Mr.. Ainsworth was q magnetic man,
i l,,.c,fIlr- ,sol,l ,la
not too much bored by demands on his
were drifting into young womanhood,
fair. coquettish, and as innocent of any
high purpose as daughters of q we'll
meaning mother can be. The example
of her patient energy, her silent endur-
ance of all that taxes the powers of a
woman who knows not how to rest her
burdens on any other strength, had not
stimulated them to q dream of such
service. Evidently there was a grand
mistake at the very heart of things in
Lucy Ainsworth's system. ...,--,r
"Good, sound muscle, that s what is
wanted" Mrs. Miller told herself at
last; .'and long, painful course of diet
is needful to odevelop it. .r;
"What,is your thought like, AnnaP"
said her friend, suddenly, one, day, as
they sat alone. You think most busily
when your tongue is silent, and YOU
have looked US over by this time: give
me the result.
Mrs Miller smiled, and held up the
fieeoy'web Of many-co,ored woods. out
of which she was weaving fairy's
head gear. 49,
sd. much is involved in a thoug hit,
less easy to unravel than my knitting.
Where should / beginP"
Darkest shade first, II you please.
My world looks chaotic to your vision;
confess"
Lucy Ainsworth's eyes were full of
appeal, and her tone conveyed ankle
ty. just then Julia rushed in from q
game of lawn tennis, flushed and out of
breath.
"0h, L am so used up, and have
torn this hounce. Where Is Dolly? She
must mend it at once"
dolly is away. and you can sew up
the rip. can't youa 1t is only a rip. and
easy to repairP"
ZIP Why, mamma, do 1 ever darn
my clothesP Mrs. Miller is aware that
Maria and hate work-basket."
"Well, my dear, find the needle and
thread and bring them to me-"
And Miss Julia looked on indiffer-
emily while the mother did her light
task with deft fingers. forgetting to say
''Thank you," as she hurried back to
her play.
my daughters are not trained as
you and were. Anna; but, really, with
so many people TO wait upon them. the
girls of this day stand a poor chance.
Still, Robert dislikes the idea of drudg-
ery for his children, and, il mind and
heart grow, they can afford few leis-
ure years. Life is hard at best, and the
strain will come by-and-by."
Harder also. if they are quite un-
ready to meet it." remarked her friend,
gravely. '.Isn't your kindness cruel,
after all?''
"Perhaps. ! begin to doubt myself