New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-05-26

modern acquaintance or two, and
shuddered. He reviewed his own life
with pardonable satisfaction. No
shame confronted him, no wilful act
OF wrong or cruelty arose to confuse
him. The wife of his choice, radiant
and TREMENDOUSLY conscious of his
presence. was at his side. The chair in
which he sat, the rug on which the
Archdeacon stood, the very name of
the florist who had supplied the
flowers, all wore marks Of the divine
approval. In his heart he thanked
God that he was reaping the harvest
OF virtue and good works.
At the close of the lecture one lady
fingered. Mrs Dibbins did not retire,
but seated herself on a hassock be-
side her husband. She was absorbed
in grave thoughts occasioned by the
Archdeacon's words. Each com
1nented upon them, Mr.. Dibbins at
some length; when presently the lady
who appeared well known, remarked
upon the unreasonable warmth of the
morning, there was fine sparkling
light in her eyes, tiny spot OF red
The rector replied, with smile and
slight expansion OF his frame, that
upon the hearth of domestic happiness
it was always warm.
The lady, Mrs. Warrington, who
was notably drifting toward separa-
ton from her husband, bit her lip.
clasped and unclasped her fingers.
"And when hehappiness is dissipat
ed, she observed, sit becomes rather
too warm"
"Ah, Mrs. Warrington How sar-
castle of you'll" cried Rachel; "and in
the face of our honeymoon, which has
just begun! I am sure no advirsity,
no poverty, 10 calamity of any kind
can ever dissolve the fabric of our de-
votion."
To Rachel there was but one honey
moon, and that, ofcourse was "ours."
Mrs. Warrington raised her delicate
brows. "Have you had your domes-
tic happiness insured?" she inquired.
"Our VOWS have insured it," an
swered Mrs. Dibbins, solemnly.
''Ah! But VOWS are sometimes
broken. rybody does not keep
VOWS. It is usually the man who does
not"
Mrs. Dibbins looked at her guest in
angry alarm.
''Then it is the woman fault . said
the rector with decision.
Certainly echoed Mrs. Dibbins,
who felt herself to be blameless; "you
will nearly always find in such cases
that the woman has failed to make
her home attractive to her husband. !"
Now the Dibbinses, who were we'll
bred if they were anything, were not
aware, OF course, that the lady with
whom they were talking had failed in
this very particular. The wedding,
the European tour, the prolonged
honeymoon in the rectory had served
to exclude everything so alien as
conjugal infelicity from the horizon.
What all the parish knew and talk
ed of, Mr.. Dibbins had not so much
as dreamed. He was always in his
place for the Sunday and weekday
services, but the litany of woes and
temptations that his people murnur-
ed on those occasions betrayed moth
ing personal, nothing extraneous to
the required confession.
Mr.. Warrington was no exception
to the mass cfbusiness men (for whom
Mr.. Di5bins had secret contempt)
whose lives were spent III the accumu-
lation of wealth, and to whom wife
appeared but an accidental append
age.
He had not perceived that the wife of
one of his ford vestrymen filled a more
important relation to Mr.. Warning
ton. Scandal of this sort throve in a
vulgar air, from which Mr.. Dibbins
took pains to be far removed. He
preferred that the atmosphere Of the
church should envelope him as COM
pletely in his intercourse with the
world as it did in the chancel, and to
an almost undisturbed extent it did.
Such burrs OF low life as caught on his
garments in passing were swiftly
stripped off.
Mrs. Dibbins' last remark was ut
tered, therefore, in the most gentle
and candid of demi-tones.
It was surprising that Mrs. War
rington should retort so warmly:
"But if she had contrived to make
| IcI IlOulc d ucdVc1l SOIu0 1llG1l IJItlGI
hell"
This was strong language for the
Dibbins drawing-room, but the echo
of similar words which had barely
died away with the departure OF the
Archdeacon broke the fatal effect Off,
II knew a woman nce'-Mrs War
rington drew up her cloak and fastened
the clasp with cold fingers who de-
voted soul and body to make her
home an earthly paradise, but with
her ideas of paradise she associated
only pure and enrolling enjoyments.
Those her husband hated from the
first. He had hated them before he
married her, but she did not know it.
Something in his courtship Of a pure
woman stirred his chivalry Bad
men seldom marry bad women. He
fancied that he should continue to be
affected by it; but the chase over, the
poor woman, the companion and crit
ic OF his secret thoughts, he hated
both her and her works. Then he re-