Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1883-06-21

t'But 4 read, too, said Amy with wide
open blte eyes.
solid literature, mean" corrected
her husband. "The old poets and
philosophers-all that sort of thing"
Amy dropped her head.
T-suppOse so, f" said she, slowly.
"0f course, know that your are a
dear little housekeeper, went on
Arthur; "but my aunt reminds me that
we ought not to confine our sympathies
within the narrow range of our own
daily existence"
81 don't understand" said Amy,
family.
Aunt Millicent will explain" said
Mr.. PembertOn. There are always
clubs to join, mutual improvement So
cieties to organize, charitable associa-
tions to form. And when you have once
tasted the pleasures of these improving
occupations"
"0h, yes, | knOw!" said Amy. "And
l will try my best to do as you wish,
Arthur"
But there was the shadow of new
gravity on that infantine face, pen
sive information of the voice, which
Arthur Pemberton had never heard be-
fore.
Aunt Millicent went next morning,
the first thing, to Mindless and ordered
some huge editions of the classics. She
began daily course of readingwith her
nephew's wife; she initiated her into the
mysteries of scientific lore. political
economy, societies, symposiuma, u....i
the day became all too short for her en-
gagements.
"Your wife is improving" she said
to Arthur. II really think she is awak-
ening to sense of the responsibilities
of woman in the nineteenth century
at last"
And Arthur kissed the peach-like,
dimpled cheek, and congratulated his
little wife on her mental advance.
Bnt somehow the home was not so
sweet and cosy. An impalpable some
thing was missing-the influence which
had followed Amy's light footsteps all
through the rooms, the glass of flowers
here, the looped curtains there, the
music on the piano, the bird-cage hung
in the sunshine, the delicate dish pre-
pared by Amy's own fingers, the
whipped cream, the lucent jelly, the
carefully cut-up fruits,-all the pretty,
quaint devices which had descended to
this young housekeeper through long
line of housewifely ancestors.
They had been very pleasant. Arthur
Pemberton had enjoyed them, as we en-
joy the sweet air and sunshine, without
pausing to think whence they came;
and he missed them now.
But, all of a sudden, the delicate little
flower dropped, as blue-bell droops
after a sharp September frost.
81 am not SICK" said Amy; "oh, no!
But / feel as if there wasn't any more
strength left in me. 1 think l won't get
up to-day; I'll lie in bed and rest. No,
no; don't send for a doctor! / don't
need medicine--I only need rest"
Aunt Millicent stared. Herself strong
as an iron machine, it never occurred to
her that all natures were not cast in the
same enduring mold. But the old
family doctor looked grave, and shook
his grey head.
"She has overdone herself" he said;
the results may be serious, Put away
her books; don't so much as speak to
her about classics or ologies of any
sort
And Aunt Millicent had never, in the
course of her whole life, felt such
pang as when the doctor whispered his
that little Amy must proba-
bly, drift away from them into the un-
known world, as the autumn crept on.
"But there is nothing the matter with
hertz pleaded she, with moist gather
ing over the ovals of her glasses.
''That is precisely the sort of case that
we physicians find most difficult to deal
with," said Doctor Dean.
And one day Amy put her soft, trans
parent, little hand out upon that of her
husband.
Il am not asleep" said she. Don't
keep so quiet. But sometimes my
speech and mind seem to float away
rom me, and so 1 had perhaps better
ell you now how sorry l am that I
nave been such disappointment to
youI'
"a disappointment! Amy, my treas
lre!" cried out Arthur, with passion
ate ring of sadness in his voice.
II never could have been learned and
scientific like Aunt Millicent," whisper
ed Amy; sit wasn't in me. They were
killing me-those dreadful classes, and
.he long, long pages of blank verse, and
1he tiresome plays of Shakespeare, which
never understood. Tell her it was
very kind of her to try and remodel me
;or your sake, dear; but it never could
nave been done. But loved you, dar-
ing-oh, so well! If l had been Sir
isaac Newton himself, l couldn't have
owed you any better. Always remem-
Der that, won't you. dear? And now I'll
ry to sleep little. t. y. .
Aunt Millicent looked blankly at her
nephew, as the soft lids dropped over
he big, blue eyes. a.
"We have made mistaken she
"Yes," said Arthur Pemberton,
1--WE have made mistake;
md if it has lost me my little Amy l
hall never forgive myself!'
And Aunt Millicent felt like crimi-
lal.
But Amy did not die. With tender
lursing and constant care, she recover
ID; and when she was well enough to
ravel, her husband took her to the
FRIGHT shores of the Mediterranean,
where she rapidly regained her former
lealth and spirits.
"Hang Milton and ShakspeareH' said
le. Confusion seize all these Mental
Associations and Intel
ectual Saturnalias! Put 'em altogether,
don't value them as much as one
,olden hair of my darlings's dear little
lead. You can't make stately ibis
,ut of humming bird, and I love my
lear little wife, lust as she is, for what