The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1883-01-06
THE TWO WIVES.
Which shall it bea'


The speaker was scarce more than
thirty years old, full of health and vigor,
the junior and working partner in an
old established business house in small
city.
It was Sabbath evening. His wife
had been playing the piano, and he had
been singing the Sunday-school hymns
with their children of seven and five
wears old. They were pretty, affection
ate, bright children, and the parents
hearts had been knit closer to them
these last few weeks, since the toddling
wee one had been laid. in a fiower-filled
casket, beneath the cold white snow.
Sunday was not q day OF sacred rest,
but an off-day from business and care.
and Mr.. Brooks lay back in his loung-
ing-chair, put aside the magazine he had
been reading, while his wife put the
children to bed, and resumed the sub
ject on which they had been talking the
most of the day.
1.-The Baldwin house," she answered,
with smile-just the smile a woman OF
tact wears when she wishes her hus-
bands affection to bias his judgment.
Mr.. Brooks whistled minute.
If we take the Gilmore cottage, l can
pay down for it. Our furniture will be
enough for it. and we can live nicely
and plainly without going into debt one
dollar, and five years hence l can buy
any place in town."
People like Mr.. Baldwin do not die
every five years, and places like his are
not thrown into the market once in
twenty-five years.
Il can build house."
"But my dear husband, not at half
cost. And it would take lifetime to
grow such trees. 1t is q most beautiful
place, and in most perfect repair"
81 know all that. 1t Is much better
worth its price than the Gilmore cottage
is worth its price. But I do hate debt
and mortgage. But perhaps, as you
say, the reduced price ought to decide
II am sure it ought. and we will
make the old furniture do for q time"
1.-The rooms are much larger, and our
carpets are not India-rubberr'
II have thought of that l can make
the best of the carpets into mats, and"
with a playful smile. ''imagine them
Turkish rugsr'
"You are such shrewd manager. l
can pay for the house soon" he said.
And the house was bought. one-third
paid down, and two-thirds on a mort
gage. Wise business men congratulated
Mr.. Brooks, as the place was sold below
its value, for the heirs were not near OF
kin, and did not wish it, or the care OF
it.
And now Mrs. Brooks was happy.
Her early home had been one Of
large wealth, and she loved style, and
was used to and fitted for gay society.
But her father specialized in stocks and
went down. He moved to his native
town and hired q cottage just out Of the
city But the disappointed mans brain
gave way, and the two lone women, in
the new circumstances and surround
ings, were so brave. and watched over
the paralytic so unmurmuringly, that
all hearts sympathized with them. and
Brooks, then only trusted clerk, dared
offer and was thanked for many .
thoughtful and delicate kindness. And
when death relieved the watched-over
and the watchers he had won the love
he had crayed.
In that cottage they sat tonight.
Eight years they had been happy in It.
Three lives had come to it. The grand
mother aud the little one had gone out
from it. Thus they had known Joy and
sorrow, but they had been content, a.
one is content who feels that every to-
morrow win be brighter than to-day.
The looked for tomorrow had now
come. And the early days came back
to Mrs. Brooks with . force she had
thought all spent.
One parlor was closed. A new rich
carpet was bought for the other. and the
paintings, books, statuettes. and bric-a-
brac which the refined taste Of Mr.. King
had selected when rich, and which pow
erty could not take from him, but which
in the small rooms Of the cottage had
needs been scattered, were brought to-
gether in it, and gave the elegant room
tone and sir of refinement which mere
wealth had never given it.
The first evening that they sat in it
Mr.. Brooks, with keen enjoyment of
life's Injuries such a. he had never be-
fore known. said:
Il am glad ! bought this place. I did
not know we had SO many elegant things
until your artistic taste brought them
together. This is the finest room in the
city,"
II have no doubt It il. have tried
TO arrange it as my father had his library.
wish he could see it."
Perhaps he does. That cottage was
nice to me, but how meagre it must have
been to you, and yet you never COM
plained.H
And . new appreciation Of and new
love for her sprang up in his heart, and
they talked on and on in their great con-
tent and happiness
Society swung open It's doors, and
calls and invitations came upon them.
More dress was NODDED, taxes and insur-
ance were high. interest to be paid. and
business everywhere depressed, and for
two years the debt lay unchanged.