The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-08-25
A YANKEE ATLANTA.

fhc broad street OF Charlton as DIR. My
rick, perched in his high-swung sulky,
drove wearily homeward through the
biting air. To a hungry man the cheer
ful tinkle pleasantly suggested the
thought of creature comforts But the
thought of creature comforts unpleas-
antly suggested their natural entail of
bills. He recalled the unpaid scores of
these tormentors rlistling in the-hollow
bronze globe, by whose Weight u bronco
Atlas standing ON his Office table seemed
quite bent and overcome Noswonsler,
either, thought the care-worn doctor.
His own woFlds often seemed to contain
nothing but'biils, aud that the stoep in
his own shoulders mad come Of their I'M
lifting load he knew.
1t was Mrs. Myrick's last Christmas,
gift to him-that costly inutility. When
he kissed her, with thanks, his prophetic
soul mis- gave him that the bill would be
sent IN g the moment heeoyld lest aft
ford TO pay, if one hour of his wearing
year were distinguishable from another
in that respect. But he1had long since
discovered that his wife had a fiscal
genius unrivahed~ among her sex, save
by Tint able inancicr. Mrs Micawber
She -ticctarcd that the explanation OF
their cmbarrassments lay in the fact that
the doctor constantly fnisIaid his bills,
and so of course paid most them twice
over. When. therefore, She had APP
pointed to office, so 70 speak,
this PAGAN gChsncellor Of the tx
chequcr, and had made. it adaily duty
To PVT IN new erstr.iy evidcnces-o of debt
into his grim keeping, she really felt
that the Myrick fanaily stood oneemore
on sound financial basis, or If they did
not, that it was certainly no fault of
hers.
Meantime she went on as she had
always done, committing endlessextray-
agances in the name. of economy, and
heaping mp us against the day ofbills
Had she been one of the ten virgins for
whom the bridegroom called. her lamp
would have been found neither fun nor
empty; she would long since have eN-
changed il altogether, much under value.
for a highly recommended self-lighting-
and-feeding perpetual burner, certain
under no circumstances TO ignite. This
system of barter and substitution ami
mated the housekeeping, devastating as
il went
But however spent and troubled DR.
Myiick might be, he never suffered HIM
self TO be impadent with his wife. He
was eminentlya just man.e He remem-
bered that she was unaltcred from the
smiling beauty of seventeen whom he
had passionately wooed. vowing, after
the manner of lovers, that not for worlds
would he have had her other than she
was No strongzminded, aggressive.
unsexed Creature for him, he had gone
so far asto say, in the wisdom of his
postgraduate experience, but tender,
clinging. sweet, adorable maiden, whose
strength was her weakness, and who
should clothe his roughness with her
grace. In short, the oak and the vine,
though hackneyed as to the metaphor,
seemed to him quite the correct thing as
to sentiment.
At thirty-iive his Mary was Just as pref
ty, just as useless, lust rs incapabie of
serious effort, just as inafle, Just as low
ing. just as sweet tempered,. as on their
wedding day It WIS The oafe- worn man
of forty-two who had left the impulsive
boy of twenty-four so far behind him
that he could no longer comprehend the
passion of that foolish Young fellow for
n beautiful doll. 1t seemed impossible
that he. Arthur Myrick. knowing what n
wise, careful, high-minded wife might
have done for.him in essence. and estate
during these eighteen wears. could eyer
have quoted with approval, to thegirlhe
loved, Ccleridge's sentiment that the
perfection of character in a woman is to
be characterless.
Yet he remembered he had perpetrated
that very idiocyy and he acknowledged
that he had no right'to whimper now
that his pleasantT vice of sentiment
tally had been made an instrument
10 plague r. him All that he had rem
son to expect from his Mary-love
for himself and his ,children---he had
received IN full measure. And he
would have held himself caitiff indeed
could he have visited upon her blameless
head his own sins OF. blinded judgment.
of dpll perception. and Of an ignoble
worshipwhich exacted no nobleness Of
its object.
Over the. cradles of his. FIVE daughters
ne had suffered pangs of apprehension
and self-reproach lest. they had. been
born % make Ito lives of other men Is
hard and empty as his who had beeotten
than 49, x through each successive wear
ms own domestic vine had chung and
clambered closer about its supporting
oak, precisely as he had invitedit to do.
He knew that the innocent bloomy
growth had Slapped his vitality and
thriven On his decay. Andhe vowed a
vow 90 Heaven that each of his litle
maids sliouid grow up strong bodied.
strong-souled, strong-minded, if need
We're, to the verge of masculinity, if
only thus could she become distinct
human being and no parasite.
But as thsye slipped BY in the com,
his girls asthey were, with matter-of-
course paternal pride, and sometimes
forgot and oftener fell too weary. to
shape into conduct his aspirations for
them, They were all pretty-prettier
than their mother even They were all
clever in their different ways, well-bred
and intelligent, as n matter of course.
Those effects belonged to the Myrick
blood. the doctor thought, with some
rardorabfe sseif-complacencya He felt
sure that Rose. who was seventeen now,
had great executive force He thought
that she might even inaugurate new
reign in the housekeeping, if her mother
would only abdicate in her favor He
had suggested the change of dynasties,
with perfidious pretense of relieving
his wife from care But with perfect
sweetness she had declined all aid. With
her experience, she observed, house
keeping cares were nothing to her-thes
merest fQrmtof occupationswhere dear
Rose wQnld grow old before her time.
with such . sponsibility on her shout
1ers- No, no. Every girl learned that
'ort of thing by intuition as soon as she
lad a house of her own. She knew she
lid. and Rose had certainly inherited her
apacity to manage well. Let the child
ave her brief holiday. VIII Hayes
vanted her to be married in the spring.
nd then she must settle down, of course.
|esides, as Win was rich, Rose would |