Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-11-18
A BURIED TALENT.

| a 6VhED iH&EHfs
Marriage seemed to have entirely
extinguished Mrs. Montgomery's
musical talent. This lady's ability
had seemed unusual, and had been
carefully fostered and developed by
wise parents and the most accom-
plished teachers at home and
abroad. She had thoroughly mas
tered the principles of harmony,
and had even taken to looking into
contrapuntal depths, than which
nothing more need be said to show
ber devotion to her art. She had
more than once enjoyed the honor
of playing for the most distinguish
ed musical society in the country,
4 and had acquitted herself with the
greatest credit. But now, after
eight years of married life, this lady
was in the habit of declining all in
vitations to play by the repetition
of the hackneyed and exasperated
excuse, that she was "entirely out
of practice" ,-.a... 5---z
Mrs. Montgomery's cares could
hardly be responsible for the serious
remissness. She was the mother of
three healthy, happy children, and
! the wife of man whose interests
| were centered in his family, and
with means enough to support ik in
luxury. Mrs. Montgomery's mu-
steal talent had been the first at
traction to the gentleman who af-
| terWards became her husband. He
! was not musician himself, but eX-
tremely fond of music and an excel
lent critic. Mrs. Montgomery had
played occasionally for her husband
for the first two or three years, but
these treats had become less and less
frequent, and had finally ceased al |
together. Her husband had cOaxed
and reasoned, and sometimes scold-
ed. He had used all the influence |
he possessed to induce her to keep |
up her practice, but to no purpose. !
1t seemed to Mr.. Montgomery that |
his wife was totally Indifferent to |
the art she had once worshiped, and |
more than this, that she was entire |
ly Indifferent to his feelings on the
subject. ss.. .. rs.. "a .--,l
If Mr.. Montgomery told himself
sometimes that he had been cheat |
ed, it is certainly not to be wondered
at.
This gentleman was in the habit
now of declining all invitations to
aoaaGsicdles and il was only when the
old longing for sweet strains became
Unsuitable that he allowed himself /
to live over the past at concert or
an oratoriO. sstr .
One morning au invitation to a
musical soiree was brought in to
the cozy room where MIRA Mrs.
Montgomery and their children
were taking breakfast. r
"Well," said the wife, after eX-
amining the programme, "you can
60 if you please"
Her cis-o-Uis responed, with ring
in his voice which was easy to in
terpret. -p.
iBut shall decline" @
"There is going to be some good
music" said Mrs. Montgomery,
ts'and it seems a pity not to CO."
SIT is pity" the gentleman re-
sponded, with considerable bitter
ness, "but you are wholly to blame
for it," ~
"Oh, Dick! how unreasonable
you are ~ was the deprecating an I
swer. 81 wish you could put your ,
self in my place for just once. You
have no more conception of my
work and responsibilities than little
Dick has," And Mrs. Montgomery
drew the urchin's high chair little
nearer the table. "Why, Richard, {
there is something to do all the
time. try to keep your house nice,
dear, and your company well en-
and your children sweet &
and prasentable. There isn't SER {
want in the establishment who 6
works as hard and as unremittingly
as / do" i. \
aBertha, I could endure to see I
the children in calico, and some 9
times not quite tidy. 1 could man. t
age on one meal a day very nicely,
indeed, and / could live comforta- s
bly, without visitors, but l shall
never become accustomed or recon-
ciled to nay wife as a, hOusekeeper /
and a mother only. was given the 8
right to expect something more, J
and while may he obliged to live s
my life without it, you may as well b
understand that am not and never f
shall be satisfied"
These were harsh w0EGs, and q
Mrs. Montgomery's eyes filled with Il
ears. u~ h
"But, Richard" she begun again, t
after little pause, "every one will il
know that it is impossible for a wife C
and a mother to keep. up her music. |
No one ever does. If you had more U
of a Woman's work q
you would see it was out of the il
question:" s
"You were given a talent of a v
very high order, Bertha, and you t
nave deliberately buried it. seem b
% be the only sufferer at present, u
Dut this will not always be SO
am sure. There must be penal 8,
y proportiOnate to that offense as t,
% Others" 81
That morning after Mr.. Mont p
,omery lett the house his wife sat \
iown before her grand piano and il
attempted one of the simplest of n
Lieder OItne WO7de, a
,ut though the old expression was ii
here the once supple fingers were "
tiff and awkward, and after half N
lour of practice she Fose and closed t.
he instrument in disgust. .
"FOur hours a day for year fC
night bring back little of the old fe
'Ower of execution" she told her b
elf. But what would become OF cs
he house and the children should D,
he set herself to such task? I'm eI
impossible. tt
A day or two after this Mr.. Mont h,
omery brought home a friend to
inner. The guest was an old lady tn
1hom Richard had not seen since af
is bOyhoOd. She had lived for a pt
core of years i'm Colorado, and was /
Ow seventy years old. The con- fo
ersatiOn turned naturally to music. to
sertha was too straight forward Sc
nd honest to be in the least adroit, -
ut she did use all the tact she pos
essed to turn the tide of talk into a Sc
1ore agreeable channel. No use. i1l
fingered awhile, and swayed ir-