, 1886-06-27

the establishment. The shortening
of the hours of labor appeared to have
multiplied the opportunities for things
to get mixed and to go crooked, That is
to say, it so struck Mr.. Wellington. He
could not possibly accustom himself to
the situation. He thought about it,
dreamed about it, and in a mild, but
definite form, swore about il. My wife
is a treasure, - he would %soliloquize; "but
she is a woman. also; and say what you
will about EN-, the best of women have
their drawbacks. If it isn't toe much of
one thing it's too little of another. Mrs.
Wellington would be perfect if she
wasn't SO logical. And she wouldn't be
so logical if she had a little more sense of
humor." Sometimes it seemed to him
that he would almost be willing to spare
her wonderful gift of philosophy if she
would only manifest instead Of it a
capacity for seeing the ridiculous side of
affairs. But she was obdurately and in
d~efatigably serious, and there was al
end of the matter.
1t must not be supposed, however, that
Mr.. Wellington was himself always in
clined to give preference to the humor-
Gus view of the case. He would have
been glad to do so, but the fun was too
frequently of that grim character which
easily becomes a pain. Such, for ex-
ample, was In experience he had one
night with the twins. Next to his wife,
he loves and prizes those two infants.
When they smile and crow he is in
ecstasy; when they fret and cry he
,,T,r, a.. l.,...at J,at~... O. ,.ln,,
they were taken that night with a
joint and decided collie his anxiety knew
no bounds. Mrs. Wellington sat at mi
side of the table reading, and the nurse
girl at the other busy with a drawing
lesson, and neither of them gave any
heed whatever to the moaning twins.
@The children are sick" Mr.. Wellington
declared, "or hungry, or something
but the remark attracted no attention.
He rocked them to and fro, with grad
ually increasing concern, and frequently
repeated the statement-and still there
was no response. The nurse took the
precious pair from the cradle and began
walking the floor with them. Mrs. Well
ington looked up from her book after a
time and said, placidly: Richard, dear,
this is IN eight-hourhouse, and there's
nobody on duty now; the children will
nave to shift for themselvtessS."
If this burden had been anything on
earth but the blessed twins, Mr.. Well
ington would have dropped it in wonder
and dismay. AS it was, he stopped sud
denly, and drawing his offspring to his
breast with clumsy %fervor, said Just one
....xI II .-.s ~ L.. -, afl,a,t- Tho axant
impression that he intended to convey
by this abrupt specification of "A
remote and sacred city was not APP
parent. Perhaps he did not him
self know precisely what he meant;
perhaps it was not what he
really wanted to say. Mrs. Wellington
looked at him interrogatingly, and the
nurse-girl's pencil fell and her face
turned pale. "If this is a joke she e
on directly, II must confess that | can't
see the point" The idea of Mrs. We'll
lington being guilty of a joke was so
grotesquely improbable that even she
was tempted to laugh ut it. IF there
is any amusement to be derived from
hearing two children cry in this pitiful
way he continued, Il am too stupid to
comprehend it. The kids are sick, or at
least unhappy, and being their father.
I'm not able to feel funny over such a
thing"-and he carefully replaced them
in the cradle. and rocked them with
rapid and digging vigor.
Richard dear" Mrs. Wellington said
in kind but firm accents, your devotion
to your children does you credit. 1t
.k.u.f that x-ou bnva "a mood hnart Rnt
where sentiment and logic conflict, the
mead and not the heart should rule. 1t
is unfortunate that children are so on
stituted that they can't accommodate
their little aches and aspirations to the
demands of reason and principle. But
reason and principle remain just the
same. I'm sorry our dear twins have to
he neglected; being their mother, my i'm
pulse is to comfort and delight them at
any cost to myself; but am an eight
hour woman, and this is an eight-hour
house, and | must be CONSTANT. If you
care to give them some p%aregoric or
soothing syrup, Richard dear, it might
help them: but rs a matter of logic, l am
bound to let them alone"
This episode of the twins and their
collie persuade Mr.. Wellington thoroughly
that the eight-hour system Vas not practi-
cable for domestic uses. That could not
be n sound or wholesome doctrine, he
had to believe, which caused a mother to
turn her back on her own children be-
cause their wants We're not expressed II
their rights asserted within a given one
third of the t~wenty-fo,r hours of a day.
H.. ,.,Ar, lao nApIartI agar IL fha Gfrar
he was that Mrs. Wellington, with all her
ability, had for once in her life Numbered.
1t was glaringly clear to him that while
eight hours might answer for some kinds
of labor, II would never do to limit house
hold work in that absolute style. He had
the utmost respect for his wife's courage
of conviction and purity of motive and
design, but he could not shut his eyes to
the fact that her perseverance in this
matter was gradually transforming their
once harmonious and felicitous home
into a CHASTITY tumult and mockery. He
could see that with the best intentions in
the world, Mrs. Wellington was not equal
to the task of making eight hours serve
the purpose of ten, twelve, OF more
by merely willing that such a result
should ensue; aud if Mrs. Wellington
could not do it, what woman coulds
He scarcely dared to hope that he
could convince Mrs. Wellington that she
had permitted her firmness and integrity
a. a logician to smother her good sense
;s a wife and mother; but he resolved to
make the trial. She listened to him at
%tentively as he %recounted the numerous
annoyances TO which the establishment
was subject by reason OF this peculiar at
tempt at reform. She could not have
failed IN notice he urOed that n certain