The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1883-05-26

| craft III the courts Oh law ! Ee mystery
of making fire by the friction of tive
sticks of wood, the secret of finding
water in the desert by the light of Il bird
the cunning of foretelling the force o
the coming winter or the depth of the
snowfall these and the like were OF III
use now.
If the shrcwd and sharp lawyers VIII,
bnlIied and beat me had come into my
element | had beaten them. But | hat
| to the undertaking. And So it was
worked and stud.ed as never man work
ed and studied before Often never left
my Office till the gray dawn, after day
Of toll and night of study. Ny health
| gave way and | was indeed cid and
| thoughtful. Well, all this you can see
did not suit the merry hearted and spoil
ed child of the mines at all. Then She
| was not SO ambitious as | was: then she
had not such a strange, wild life behind
to haunt her. She became the spoiled
child here that she had been at her
| fathers and naturally grew impatient at
my persistent toll and study. But she
was good all the time; good and honest
and true in all things and n all ways;
understand that distinctly. And let me
say here, once for all, that no man or
woman can put a finger Oh any stain in
the woman's whole record of lie, so far
as truth and purity go. But she was not
happy here. Impatient of the dull mo-
notony or the exhausted mining camp
and longing for the sea and the old home
that overhung the sounding waters, She
mother, while | sold the little home we
had built and kept together, the new
orchard and the laucS of roses we had
planted together, and remained there in
the camp, promising to follow her, yet
full of ambition ROW to be elected to a
place on the Supreme Bench of the State,
and | remained and worked on to that
end ceaselesSly.
She bad been absent rom me quite Il
year when the convention was called and
| went to Portland, seeking the nominal
ton for the place | desired. But the
poor, impatient lady. impul>ivc always
and angry that should have kept 50
long away. had forwarded papers from
her home, hundreds of miles remote TO
Il lawyer here, praying tor divorce
This 50 put me to shame that aban-
doned my plans and in rage and diSap
pOintment formed Il collision with her
lawyer to give her a prctense of that
which the professed to desire Yet
knew quite well that this was only q 70
mantle and foolish freak that meant
nothing. How often She has written me
that she did this only IN order to get me
to come to her, and that she did not
dream she could be divorced unless
came to her when the action was brought
Nor could she in fact. But court was
in session, and her lawyer, who looked to
me only for his fee, entered the case, and
in about the time it takes to write it the
sham decree was announced to the world,
while was sailing away for other lands.
OF course, the whole pitifGl proceed
ing was as nothing, but her lawyer, now
dead. got his fee from me and never be-
trayed the treachery to her. And it WIS
perhaps quite ten years BEFORE size ly
chance met some one who told her Il C
truth She had married. but at once left
all and came to me.
| had not been greatly fortunate at hes .
\ few Thousand dollars | had thrown up
as a wall between myself and work, but
had grown So impatient of this moderate
position in life and So wanted to get a
great fortune and return to the West that
| deliberately sta:,ed all in Wall street
and of course lost all. |, beaten and dis
couraged and broken in health, had re
treated to :. garnet ana WAS then again
preparing to use my pen, when one
stormy night a strange woman crcpt up
my stairs and told me in wild whisper
that my wife, Minnie Myrtle,' was i'll
the city and must see me. And how
helpless | was to help her or any one now.
| had seen her form but once for nearly
a dozen years. And such years Let
me not rectc any of the horrors they
hold in this connection: and yet | heard
from her all the time, and while she
wrote against me aud lectured about me
and did all that made my life SO miser-
able, she did not really mean nay ruin;
but thinking me strong and prosperous
and happy she exhausted her wit and
sarcasm on me and laughed shat she
might not weep. But in time she drove
me nearly mad and lett the country
and proposed never to return. My pub
fishers, Roberts Bros, Of Boston, had
sent her $50 month as regularly as the
months came all the time. She was
more directly from myself, as | could
spare it, all the time | was in Europe.
and she received these sums fer wears
after her marriage. But the poor
spoiled child Of Port oxford never quite
GOT over her childish love for wastcful
follics and dress and show and travel.
and so was forever pinched and in debt.
And now having hastily passed over all
those terrible years, we come to the
closing chapter of this singular life.
followed that good woman who came to
me that stormy night in silence till We
came at last to little back room in the
top of house, with bed in the centre
and doubtful fire struggling in the
CRATE The good woman turned away
and left us i'll the room together. The
place was almost dark. She did not give
me her hand, but stood before me with
one hand hole ing on the bet. post, a Iong
time silent
Il have come to you at last she said,
after awhile.
"You have come to drive me from the
country again.
Il have come to You t" die - she said.
And as she turned SO that the light was
on her face saw it was so. And then
we sat down and had a long talk It was
our last talk. | was not very kind God
knows | am sorry now. She wanted
most of all to see her little girl, whom |
had taken from her and placed in the
convent school at Canada three Years
before, and it seemed to break her heart
when refused to send for her to come.