Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-07-15

/ care 10 De troubled With q child.
| Kitty received this information in very
unamiable spirit II hate ladies and gentle
menr' she said
Even Capt. Bennydeck"' her mother ask
ed.''
the walters They would take me to the
Crystal palace-only they're always busy.
wish it was bedtime; L don't know what to
do with myself"
Take little walk with Susan"
Where shall go?''
Catherine looked toward the gate which
opened on the road, and proposed visit to
the old man who kept the lodge
| Kitty shook her head. There was an OBJ
! lection to the old man. ole asks questions;
he wants to know how | get on with my
sums. He's proud OF his summing, AMI he
| finds me out when Pm wrong. l don't like
the lodge-keeper."
Catherine looked the other way toward the
house. The pleasant fall of water in the
basin of the distant fountain was just audi
bic. go and feed the goldfshes," she sug-
gested.
This was prospect of amusement which
at once raised Kitty's spirits. That's the
thingp she cried and ran off to the fountain
with the nurSemaid after her.
Catherine seated herself under the trees
ami watched in solitude the decline of the
sun IN r clOudleSS sky. The memory of the
happy years of her marriage had never been
so sadly and per5istenty present to her mind
as at this time, when the choice OF another
married life waited her decision to become
an accomplished fact. Remembrances of
the past, which she had such bitter reason to
regret, and forebOdingS Of the future, in
which she was more than half inclined to be-
Ieve, oppressed her at one and the same mo-
ment. She thought of the different circuin-
stances so widely separated by time, under
which Herbert (yearS ago. and Bennydeck
Gwenty-fOur hours since) had each owned
his love and pleaded for an MISUNDERSTANDING
Her mind cOntraSted the diSSimilar results
Pressed by the faithIess man who had so
cruelty wronged her in after years she only
wondered why he had waited SO long before
lie ASKED her to marry him. Addressed with
equal ardor by that other man, whose age
whose character. whose modest devotion Of
fcred her every assurance Of happiness that
a woman could desire, she had struggled
against herself, and had begged him to give
her a day to consider. That day was now
drawing to an end. AS she watched the set
ting sun the phantom OF her guilty husband
darkcned the heavenly light; enbittered the
dlStruSt Of herself which made her afraid to
say yes, and left her helpless before the heSi-
tatIon which prevented her from saying no.
Tnc figure of a man appeared on the lone
~ path that led to the lodge gate.
Impu!Slyely she rose from her seat as he
advanced. Impulsively she sat down again.
After that first act of indeciSion the fIutter
OF her spirits abAted; she was able to think.
10 avoid him, after he had spared her at
Her own request. would have been an act of
ngratltude; to receive him was to place her
self once more in the false position OF a wO-
man too undecided to know her own mind
Forced to choose between these alternatives,
her true regard for Bennydcck forbade her
to think Of herself, and encouraged her to
wait for him. As he came nearer she saw
anxiety iii his face, and observed an open
letter i'll his hand. He smiled as he APP
preached her. and asked leave to take chair
at her side. At the same tine, when he per
ceived that she had noticed his letter, lie put
1t away hurriediy in his pocket
1 hope nothing has happened to annoy
YOU" she said
He smiled again, and asked if she was
thinking OF his letter. ut is only report"
he added, from my second in command
is an excellent man. but [ am afraid his tenn
per is not procf against the ingrattude which
we sometimes meet with He doesn't yet
make allowances for what even the best nat
ures suffer under the deteriorating Influence
of Self-diStrust and despair No; I am not
anxious about the result of this case for
get all my anXicties Except one) when 1 am
with you"
His eyes told her that he was about to re-
turn to the one subject that she dreaded She
tried-as women will try, in the little emer-
gencies of their lives-to gain time.
Il am interested about your home,' she
said; 81 want to know what sort Of place it
ls Is the discipline very scvere?"
There is no discipline" he answered,
warmly. "My one object is to be friend
to my friendlesS fellow-creatures; and my
one way of governing them is to follow the
teaching OF the sermon on the mount What
ever else l may remind them of when they
come to me, [ am determined not to remind
them Of 4 prison. For this reason, though |
pity the hardened wanderers of the streets,
@on' t open my doors to them. Many ref
ugr, in which discipline is inevitable, is open
to these poor sinners already. My welcome
Is offered to pententS and sufferers of an
other kInd-WhO have fallen from positions
in life in which the sense OF honor has been
cultivated; whose despair is associated with
membranes which | may so encourage,
with the new testament to help me- as to
lesd them hack to the religious influences I'M
der which their purer and happier lives may
have been passed. Here and there l meet
with diSappointments, but persist in my
system Of trusting them as freely as If they
were my own children, and, for the most
part they justify my confidence in them.
On the day-if it ever comes-when find
discipline necessary l shall suffer my disap-
pointment and close my DOORS
us your house open," Catherine asked,
ITO men and women alike?'
He was eager to speak with her on a sub
ject more Interesting to him even than his
home. Answering her question in this frame
OF mind his thoughts wandered; he drew
lines absently with his valking-stck on the
soft earth under the trees.
The means at my disposal" he said, 'are
limited. | have been obliged to choose be-
tween the men and the women"
And you have chosen women?"
"Ye..-