Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-08-15

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station; and the fair man. after re-
peatedly nodding to his friends. sank
heavily into seat and gazed around
him with an air of patronizing benev-
Olence.
He evidently wanted to talk. and.
what was more. he meant to-.
First, he asked concerning the win
dows, whether his travelling compan-
ion minded having them down; next,
he grew discursive on the fact that it
was not a smoking compartment. but
that he meant to smoke. After which,
observing with genial smile and a
North Country infection:
''Eh. but it's good to be in England
again." and he stretched out his feet
across the seat opposite. took several
| whiffs at his pipe and prepared him
self for conversation.
It was in vain that the other man
shut his eyes, opened them with a
stony glare. took out letters to read,
| or affected to be absorbed in making
calculations in his notebook. Teddy"
was resolved to talk and was soon in
the middle of slowly delivered de-
yachting excursions, and of the heroic
bravery he himself had displayed
therein.
Getting used to the deep, monotonous
voice. his fellow-traveler's thoughts
| went off on their usual journey. His
eyes were fixed On the cushions facing
him; but his mind conjured up the
vision of woman with soft brown
eyes full of sadness, voice like the
sweetest notes of violin, and touch
so charged with magnetism that his
very soul seemed to CULVER at the
| memory of it.
He was on his way to her; and once
| in her presence he would scatter her
| objections, her protestations, to the
| winds. by the force of his passionate
pleadings. She was miserable, mis-
understood and neglected; eating her
heart out among dreary and unsympa-
| thetic surroundings. For four years
she had been beating her wings against
the coolest and dullest of cages; and
he was on his way now to set her free.
1t would be an injustice to her for him
to listen to her remonstrances, and
| ''Yes; marriage for the man of in
| tellect, as we'll as for the man of
| action, is most undoubtedly a distinct
| failure"
So lectured the big. fair man, happy
| in the sound of his own voice: and his
words struck upon his fellow-travel-
er's ears with a curious significance.
| ''And how about marriage for the
woman of feeling, of passion, tied to a
clod who undertakes her value and
overrates his own?' he snapped.
Teddy" put down his pipe and
turned his somewhat expressionless
light blue eyes with mild surprise upon
the speaker.
Women of feeling and passion, as
you call them, are happily rare among
our manageable girls" he said,
didactically. "a woman's capabil-
more limited than a mans. Her
| sphere is the narrow content of the
| domestic hearth: and"
Domestic fiddlesticks," interrupted
| the younger man. you talk as though
| women were all alike. Is every man
| fond of drink and bad company? No!
Is every woman content with dOmes-
tic drudgery? No. again! There is
as much difference between them as
there is between u.s.
Teddy" gazed at him with kind of
fatherly protest, and then he inquired
If he were a married man.
His companion changed color, and
remarked haughtily that he Ibid not
see how that fact bore upon the ques-
ton
''But it does bear upon the ques-
tion," said Teddy, with the same irri-
tating geniality. II am. should say,
a good deal older than you. and Ihave
been married several years to a woman
of quite the average intelligence, and
of more than the average looks and
education. 1 was very fond of her;
she was devoted to me; but, being a
| woman. she was incapable of under
standing man. She disliked my
friends; failed to appreciate my liter
airy tastes and my love of travel; grew
pettily jealous. and leased me with
incessant questions as to how l spent
my time; and finally took refuge in
sullen silence, Or treated me to scenes
just when l required my mind clear
for the composition of political
speeches and pamphlets. My dear sir.
l grew perfectly wretched; and the
end of it was, about a year ago 1 went
off on a tour for political purposes in
Ireland; there picked up with some
old bachelor chums; passed from one
excursion to another, always intend
| ing to travel home the next week; and
am now at length returning north
ward a new man. restored to my
| pristine, contented state of mind, and
all the more pleasantly anxious to see
my wife that I have plainly shown
her L can get on excellently without
her."
land may ask how your wife has
been employing herself all the time?''
II have only had brief notes from
her. Teddy" returned. ''She knew
it was discipline. But lately she has
more than once begged me to return.
So am going back little earlier than
1 had intended as a surprise for her. ~
.".And you think she won't have con-