The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-05-27

''pressing business with Mr.. Darwin
had to wait four hours to see him and
then attend to the business after
wards" he had been quietly playing
chess with pretty Miss Darwin all the
time, while the unconscious papa
dreamed of bonds and per cent. When
the same thing took him away half the
evenings in the month, she despised him
that he could look her in the face and
say, "business. She did not care
about the chess. She had never i'm
agined that when he promised ''leaving
all others to cleave to her alone" it
meant vow to forego all social privi-
leges; but sit was sneaking make-be-
lieve'' she said to herself. And then to
come home and, if his mother was there,
says he was $50 sorry that pesky tor
menting business kept him away and
left her at home to prose over the mend
ing and never have a good timeW The
soft lying was what she did wish he
could be broken of. 1t exasperated her
so! ... ....
But, as I said, she never blasphemed
marriage because her own had found as
many thorns as roses. She knew it was
not the State but the people.
If Mr.. and Mrs. Grey, over at the
corner, believed, as they seemed to, that
wedlock on earth was inferno enough to
preclude the need of any hereafter, that
was only one side of it. There was sweet
Mrs. Marshall who made her home a
paradise, and whose husband grew deep
er in love with her every day of his life
with an intense unspeakable loyalty;
there were Mr.. and Mrs. Hall, who had
been married fifteen years and whose
honeymoon was still in the first quarter.
Mrs. Russell was too sensible to blame
the condition, if it did prove uncomforta-
BILE for her. And the discomfort went on.
He came home one noon and found her
roasting on every gridiron in her kitchen,
in sitting atmosphere, tired and
flushed, with an odor of soups and des-
serts about her. Miss Della was grace
fully swinging in a hammock in a con-
veniently near bay window, and it was
too good an occasion to be lost. So,
with his habitual company-ga llantry and
a few extra grains thrown in for spice,
he said:
"My darling, it. a shame to have you
sweltering in this Nebuchadnezar' fur
mace on such a fiendish day, getting dim
ner for us brutes. BY Jove! I'd rather
come home every day and find you sit
ting in the igrocking chair with palm
leaf fan, and eat a cold crust of bread,
on my soul had" And he lifted ket-
tie for her by way of emphasis, and left
a huge black mark on his clean white
vest. After which mishap he betook
himself to Della, still protesting about
the cold crust.
And Mrs. Benjamin said pleasant
word, flushed little redder, and kept
up prodigious thinking. Their guest
went away on the evening train. She
came down radiant in ultramarine ash
ribbons and cheeks that glowed as nat
ural a pink as if it all came from
fresh emotions, and not from ten min
utes' application of fresh mullen leaves.
Mr.. Russell went with her, of course, to
see that she had seat, and to get her
some oranges and magazines with which
to shorten the ride. Mrs. Russell STAYED
at home to wash the dishes, as any duti-
full wife would, but still kept up the
prodigious thinking.
The next noon he came home to din
ner hungry as bear, opened the dining
room door, saw the chairs set up, the
dishes as usual, and two crusts of cold
bread the only edible thing in sight. He
stared in the greatest astonishment; not
a hint of anything else. He opened the
kitchen door; perfect order reigned
there, not kettle in sight, no odor of
fresh meat, no sign of dinner! He was
getting angry. "What is all this blast
ed business about? Jennie! Jen-n-i-er'
he called, but no answer came. J-e-n-
n-i-e!' in prolonged indignation as he
neared the parlor. 'J-a-n-e!' He was
very angry, or he would never have used
that name.
There in the GOODNESS of the bay-win-
dow she sat in the easiest chair, wasting
her time. No knitting or mending in
her hands, not even q novel, only an
enormous fan that she was using as if all
the leisure of eternity was at her dispo-
sal. He was indignant in every nerve.
"Confound it, Jane, what does all this
mean?' he said, sternly.
tiouShO yOu u llkc 10 see me IOl-
lowing your advice, she answered, look
ing lazily up.
"You idiotr' he muttered. I'm
hungry, and in a hurry, too"
80, yes" she answered sweetly,
''the crusts are on the table waiting for
YOU ....
He answered her with swear words.
l do not need to go on. You have the
picture before you. She sat there I'M
moved, swaying her fan, until the speech
OF yesterday came freshly to his mind,
and she somehow made him feel as small
and mean as man of 10 pounds avoir-
dupois can comfortably feel, She let the
new sensation do its work awhile, then
rose and brought from some unknown
hiding place in the kitchen the warm
dinner that was waiting. But Mr.. Rus
sell had SO much grace left in him as to
prefer to do penance. He refused eyery-
thing save the cold crust.
Mrs. Benjamin never repeated the
lesson; her husband profted by the one.
OF course, once in great while his old
habit returns, but he soon recollects him
self. He never said to her in so many
words that he should like to pull up
stakes and begin over again, but he acted
it,. She is not the woman ever to hint
cold crusts to him, but all the more his
conscience seems tn do IL Har rocnao+