News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-06-10

! some interest from his days dOlngS. II
was the veriest crumbs of information |
could extort, either by direct question
or the most insinuating suppositions.
then tried what effect giving my owl
ana the children's doings for we had
| two) might have. Most women know
the evaporation of retailing these par.
ticulars and of having only a 'Yesr OIL
J 'Nop in various keys for response.
When all is done they have the mort fl
cation of feeling they had not been ap-
pearing to the best advantage, and had
bored the lis ener into bargain. So
when my husband took up his book
said carelessly, AS you seem quite com
Portable, | am going to bed.
| | saw his surprise, and wondered If
he would miss me; but to bed with the
children l went, and of course punished
myself. He only thought I was tired
and not in the best of tempers; SO that
was all the interest the unwonted move
had for him.
There was one verse had strange in
terest for me. 1t was as if my dear
Lord understood me and such as me.
The Lord hath called thee as a woman
forsaken and grieved in spirit Who
but our Father could know the meaning
of those words, 'grieved in spirit and
"a wife of youth.
The next day that verse rang in my
ears, and set me thinking was hum
bled and ashamed of the pettish action
Of the preceding night, and began to
see clearly such ways were unworthy of
wife and mother. That afternoon |
spent begging guidance from the pitiful,
loving Father who understood "a woman
grieved in spirit At night, after the
children were in bed, and we sat as
usual by the freside, I-trembling from
head to foot to stake our
future happiness on an appeal and STAN
mered out, John, will you put aside
your book and give me all your atten-
tion?'n
THE OLD MAN TALKS.
''Excuse me, my dear wife," said the
old man, twill you allow me to tell the
rest of the story l confess that it
seemed childish to expect man to turn
himself inside out and change his whole
life, for what failed to see was of any
all on earth, my time given to procure
the comforts of it, every hope and
thought centered in 1t. | felt i'll used
when my wife took me to task in man
ner that seemed to suggest | had no
right to the title of a good, loving hus-
band. l was touched to the heart,
though, to see the pain in her face as |
expressed all this. There was no mis-
taking the fact that she spoke from CON
viction, and | told her truly | would lay
down my life 10 insure the happiness of
herself and our little ones, and prom
ised, as | had so often done before, to
try every effort to secure it.
/ am coming out of the battle van
quished as ever she said. 4 cannot
get to your vulnerable part. But if you
would only treat me as you do your dog
| would be content
This was going a little too far, and
could not help showing my displeasure,
but before | could express it she rose to
leave the room. AT the door she paused,
half wistfulIy, half reproachfuIlv, and
said, you may think as badly of me as
you will, but love that dog as much as
ever you may (he was lying on the
hearth, a splendid Newfoundland 1 had
had before my marriage), and never
show your love by pattings on the head
and by a CHEEKY ''good fellow" and
then see how much wagging of the tail
you will get He would cease in time
to notice you any more than another
of the house; and wives may
also grow hard and indifferent for want
of the loving demonstration that would
save them
| never felt more angry with fellow
creature in all my life than did at that
moment with my wife. All I had ever
read, seen, or heard of the follies and
weaknesses of woman played riot
through my brain, and in proportion as
| thought of myself and brother men,
she and her sex grew heartlessly small.
1t was Rover putting mis- nose into
my hand brought ne down from my
pitying exaltation of self You would
never turn from me if you got less
notice-we understand each other, that's
enough, isn't it, old fellowN but even
as said it my sense of security sudden,
ly seemed very frail.
| thought that night as l never had
done before, and to make sure I deter
mined to test what my wife had said.
From that night l Systematically set
myself to overcome habit; first with my
dog, and if that proved what was pre-
dicted, | determined to make it the
business of my life to begin home life
afresh.
| repressed every accustomed show of
affection or notice of Rover, and what
it cost me | never can tell when noticed
his gr1eved surprise shining through his
beseeching eyes as his barks and bounds
brought no response. Not one word did
breathe to my wife; | determined to
make my observations free from all
comment. For years he had been my
daily companion, and | would have
given much if he would have stayed now
at home instead of going as usual with
me to and from business. Ifelt there was
something positively cruel in my con-
duct to the faithful creature; instead of
bounding before me with his joyous
bark, and then SOLDERING into a close
pressure at my side, he began to lag be-
hind. 1t went to my very heart to see
his cowed manner as he stole to his ac-
customed place in my Office. l often
wondered which of us suffered most
He next took to lying nearer my wife,
as we sat in our usual places, after the
children were in bed When she would
leave off sewing to stroke his head l
noticed the response growing from
faint flap of the tail to a decided
wag. 1t took time for all this,
but in the end he Stunned me; and
one morning he was nowhere to be
found as started for business. That
was the longest day of my life. want
ed to get home to think things out and
to see what had become of the poor
fellow. Ny wife told me afterward
how she hated herself for having spoken
as she did, and thought my manner to-
ward the faithful creature was tactic
reproach for the supposed jealousy of
him, and so she tried to make up for my
neglect by extra attention. | could un-
derstand that old Dutchman who could
sell his dog, but could not sell the wag
of his tail. The dog at the sound of my
voice now held his tail tightly out of
sight. | had gone far enough, l conclu-
ded, with the animal and now meant to
regain my old place in his affections; so
to the utter astonishment of my wife, in
my old tone and manner of patting the
knee, | called, Here, Rover! dear old
fellow Never tell me dogs are devoid
of expressing feeling; as surely as my
wife looked her surprise, so did he his,
as he slowly rose md stared me IN the
face, without the slightest wag of the
tail or any bounding to me, as / expect
ed. 1t was my turn at astonishment.
No come here. sirp stern or coaxing
moved him. After surveying me, as if
| were curiosity, he turned to put his
head into my wife's lap.
Like the lightning's flash, my conduct
tn thnt lnoc. Lis tn mo nnl tLnt Of MN