The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1889-02-09
EVA'S LESSON.

tereQ MS nome AT seven o CLOCK ont
fine evening in June; his little three
year-old Mary ran eagerly to meet him
and baby Harry stretched out his dim
pied hands and prattled glad welcome
but his wife's face showed that nc
pleasant greetings awaited him from her
$50 you have condescended to pu1
in an appearance at last !" she sale
angrily. al concluded you intended
to stay all night watching that silly base
ball game and guzzling beer"
Richards face flushed painfully al
the last taunt, so wholly undeserved
Although harsh words were becoming
of almost daily occurrence in his once
happy home, he felt them most keenly
now, as they were uttered in the pres
ence of an intimate friend, who had
never before seen these too frequent
OutDurStS OF anger.
"Well, come to SUPPER" Eva said
ungraciously; you have kept us wait
ing an hour, and I've no doubt Clarice
is half starved"
Clarlce protested pleasantly and
Richard made courteous excuses for
his delay, but Eva was too angry and
impatient to heed them. Her sharp
words and unkind reproaches marred
all the pleasure there might have been
at her neatly spread supper table.
At the earliest moment Richard es-
capped from the unpleasant home at
mosphere and took his little ones out
for a walk.
To Clarice the whole scene had been
painful. Slight indications of growing
unhappiness between her friend and
her husband had been betrayed before,
but nothing like this. And it had been
of her handsome, even-tempered hus-
band how devotedly she had seemed
to love him in those early days. She
recalled the tender condolences Eva
had poured into her ears of his patience,
his constant kindness and generous de-
votion but now, in her impatience and
ill temper, everything was wrong-faults
and foibles, that would have passed un-
noticed in the old days, were dwelt
upon and harshly magnitied into seri
Gus defects.
A merry, thoughtless girl, fond OF
society and gay pleasures, Eva had
taken upon herself the duties of wife
and mother without thinking of how
weary the burden might prove to be.
For two or three years she was very
proud of her handsome husband, her
pleasant home and her bright, sprightly
little girl, whom every one admired and
petted. But with the coming of the
second child her cares increased, the
household duties became heavier, and
her confinement to home closer. She
never realized how largely the nervous
irritation, which made her so cross and
fault finding, was caused by these
things.
Confined to close, warm rooms day
after day, with rarely any other society
than her little ones, who shared her ir,
ritability, the troubles had increased
rapidly.
From an occasional impatient word
it had grown to sharp, angry reproaches
and constant fault finding, until Rich.
ard was beginning to seek pleasure in
the society of friends outside, only tc
be met with still harsher words each
time on his return. Thoughtless and
ignorant of the laws of health, 1t never
occurred to either that a ride or walk
each day, few hours in the open air
would do more to cure all this trouble
than would either sermons or good
resolutions.
The day of Clarice's visit everything
had gone wrong. 1t had been very
warm and Eva spent many hours in
her close, hot kitchen, over the ironing
and baking while May, mischievous little
puss, had been unusually troublesome,
scarcely out of one piece of mischief
before she was into another, keeping
the baby in constant fretfulness by her
teasing, until Eva's patience was ex-
hausted, without the additional vexa-
tional Of having her husband take ad.
vantage of holiday to attend base
ball game, and delay his return beyond
the usual hour.
ooh, if girls only knew when they
were well off, they would never marry"
she said bitterly, as she seated herself
at the parlow window with her friend.
"Just look at the. cozy lite l led before
marriage and now it is work, work,
from morning till night, no opportunity
to go out, and the children drive me
nearly wild, while my husband cares no
more than block for all my troubles.
Oh, l wish l were free once more
wouldr'-she broke of abruptly, and
leaned out of the window. "For
heavens sake" she cried excitedly,
"just look at that child May, come
out of the read this instant, or you'll
get good whipping. Dick Hayes, are
you crazy7 There's that child in the
middle of the road, liable to be run
over at any moment. A smart man you
are to take care of the children !"
May was in the street, running here
and there, kicking at some bits of stone
and now and then stoDDing to dance