Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-04-19
NED MOXON'S GRIEVANCES

the family homestead, large mansion in
the midst Of great estate, and he spared
no pains nor cost now in fitting and deco
rating it, being resolved that everything in
her new home should tell his wife of his
love and care
People in Plympton said to each other,
significantly Now, surely, Ned Moxon
will be at last a happy man ~
But on the morning of the wedding day,
while the sun was shining, and Alice, in
her white robes, her blue eyes beaming with
love, come 10 meet him. his brow suddenly
grew black. He pointed to the wedding
presents
The Scots in Plympton, | see, have
sent you miserable pair Of sugar tongs
Now, what can that mean The Scots
are among my nearest friends they know
how much have done to serve them. Did
you observe these sugar tongs, Alice
Cheap and light weight Picked up at
some auction, no doubt Z"
Dear Edward, what does il matter
What do we care for sugar tongs todayN
Il hope Alice" he said gravely, that
you do not suppose | care for the sugar
tongs 1t is the affection which they rep
resent, or rather, do not represent. The
SCOTS have been very dear TO me There
is something underneath this which do
not understand"
Do not let us think Of it now, " said AL
ice.
The guests were gathering in the parlOr
below the minister had come. She trem
bled and grew pale, while her sisters, sob
bing and laughing, arranged her veil. Ed
ward soothed her tenderlv He was quite
alive to the mminence of the moment. But
just before they went down he drew her
aside and said "Nou wronged me, Alice,
in supposing that cared for the sugar
tongs as sugar tongs. They express to me
IA lack of friendship where | have right
to expect it, And your mistake shows "A
lack Of confidence III me which
''Oh, Edward, you are not angry with
me HOir p she cried.
Not angry, he said, in Il tone of pa
tient suffering, hut hurt Come, dear,
they are waiting
Alice remembered with shame ever after
ward that the words of the holy rite were
mingled in her mind with the SCOTS and
sugar-tongs.
On their wedding journey they visited
New York and Boston, where they were
welcomed by hosts of friends, who told
each other that Ned's cup of happiness was
full. He, himself, was sure of it. Alice
grew more lovely and near to his soul
with each day. But the affair of the sugar
tongs ranked in his mind.
"You wronged me, Alice, he told her.
"How could you suppose that | cared for
the money value of the wretched things T.
IL never did, Edward ~ she protested,
with tears. Never ~
well, well, let us dismiss the subject.
! Why do you cry 1t is not yOu who have
suffered injustice
How can you be angry at such a paltry
thing I" she exclaimed Indignantly.
Angry You wrong me again. | am
only hurt. You do not apparently under
stand my character at all, Alice dear. We
will speak no more of it,
But the next day and the next the Scott
sugar -tongs were brought up afresh, and
the same weary round was Travelled over
again.
There were other grievances. In Bos
ton the Purdys did not call upon Alice for
two days. They, too, were his dear friends
and the neglect showed a lack of affec-
ton at which he was not angry, but hurt.
At Niagara an overcharge in the hotel bill
made him blind TO the grandeur of the
falls, the tawdry colored lights and the odd
tiles of the little town, all of which gave
Alice such keen enjoyment.
1T was only fifty cents after all
is it possible, Alice, that you think
care for the money 1t is the fact that
have been overreached which annoys me.
Il know. But
NO, you do not know, he said with al
air of stern endurance You think me
mercenary. | am sorry. Let us talk NJ
more of it.
Alice, at first, tried to laugh away thes,
grim and ugly suspicious in her husband
brain; but that only made their growth
more rank Il am not a sensitive man,
he would say. Il am not apt to imagin,
Sights. But when am wounded to tn,
quick by your injustice, your misconcep
ton of me, it is hard to hear you turn m,
into ridicule.
She tried then TO argue him out of hi
morbid fancies, but this was impossible
Concerning the tariff, or the last discovery
in science, or new book nobody could b.
more rational than Ned Moxon but no rea
son, no argument, could touch his griev
ances
1t seemed to her that he gloated over
them. He woke her in the night 10 tel
her of his deep affection for her or hi
friends and of the ingratitude with which
he was repaid. Every careless word o.
trifing neglect was a black proof of tina
ingratitude.
Going up the Saguenay, Alice met ON tn
boat her old friend Frauleir b., and tn,
two girls chartered together for an hour oi
deck, while Moxon, with a heavy brow
paced up and down.
you know" he said afterward, that
do not speak German. 1t is the lack o
consideration of me that hurts me-
But she cannot speak English, and
pray do not explain. 1t is a trihe
These things sting, however We will tall
no more about it,"
For two days of their homeward journe
he held her aloof with the most chilly court
esy, sitting silent by her side, staring on
of the car window with the face of a mar
tyr. She found out at last that butto
was wanting on his glove.
mo, / did not tell YOU" he said, with
patient, injured smile Love has keel
eyes for these little services All, | won
der sometimes if you ever loved me, dear
If it was not respect-esteem you CAV
me-"
"And all this, >" thought the tortured Al
, ice, ITO grow out of a button I"
But she now neither joked nor argue
with him.
All Plympton, when they arrived, watcf
ed them curiously. They knew Ned an
his grievances "She has sound sense an
fine tact, and she loves him dearly, >" tn
older women said. "She will cure him
anybody can"
Her first effort at cure was to make thei
home bright and cheerful in hopes tina
the innocent gayety might drive away hi
moody suspicious. But he became NOR
: melancholy each day, telling her at las