Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-01-16

we have been married eight years
and we are strangers. have borne
three children-to stranger. | can
not remain any longer under the roof
of strange man. Twill not see these
children any more. / give you, Tor
valid, what like for myself-perfect
freedom. Live as you please; 1 shall
live as / please. We are free. Stran-
ger, keep your children.
1t is 20 years since those WORDS
were uttered, though we seem to have
heard them only yesterday.
/.
Norah sat alone in her salon.
Twenty years had changed the young
wife of 81 to the woman of Al. At
that age few women preserve their
attractions. Norah was one of the
few. She was now a handsome wo-
man, who had been in her youth only
pretty. Her form had filled out, her
face was still pleasing; her eyes, once
so vivaclous and sparkling, were now
heavy and full of light. She was
dressed in black silk, with plenty of
lace; she lay back in her easy chair; in
her lap was a book which she was not
reading. AS she sat there alone,
thinking, her face grew hard and even
defiant.
Well, she had had her way. She
gave up her husband and home; she
abandoned her children; she went forth
to find Herself, She found Some,
thing, and she called it Herself. This
Something told her that religion was
sheer imposture and pretense; that the
ordinary laws of life were designed
for no other purpose than to keep wo-
man in slavery; that the first duty Of
every woman was to that Something
Herself that she must make the
most of her life for the sake of that
something, before whom every other
consideration must give place She
threw aside, therefore, all the con-
ventions, and openly, not secretely, in
the sight of all she began to live the
life of perfect freedom. She wrote
novels, also, which the old.fashloned
regarded with horror. In them she
advocated the great principle of abol,
ishing the family and making love the
sole rule of conduct; she even related
in these works her own adventures, in
so much that.the worthy Norwegians
though the curse Of Paris was about
to fall also upon fair Norway,
1t is rumored that :his advanced
thinker has found many deciples, most
of whom, for the sake of their busi-
ness connections, worship in secret; it
is certain that a few ladies, English
or German, have been found in her
salon on her evenings, as we'll as the
men who, partly out of curiosity, and
partly from the freedom and the plq
nancy of the conversation, frequented
her receptions. Indeed. Norah Hell
mer commanded that kind of respect
which belongs to one who has the cour.
age to act upon her convictions. Per-
haps it would have been better for her
own chiljren--but what have children
to do with the discovery and the de-
velopment of Self?-had she practiced
her convictions in some other country
say in St. Petersburg, where every
thing is permitted; or in Paris, where
everything is done; or in London,
where everything may be done and
nothing need be known.
Women who are brilliant in the
society of men, who permit themselves
to say things which would be risky in
a club smoking-room, and who hold
views which prevent the more con.
ventional lady from calling upon them
are apt to run down and feel low when
they have the whole evening in scli-
tude. Norah was feeling low; she
was alone, her book was stupid, she
wanted excitement; she was sorry nov
that she had refused a box at The
theater. ~ IS
tA1ady, madame
"A lady-what lady? What name7
'Only--a lady, madame. The lady
wishes to give you her name herself.
Norah hesitated. 4 am at home,
she said. % ) o. ' u
The lady who came in was dressed
in q long cloak with thick veil. She
put up the veil and threw of hel
cloak. sR III l 1f
'You do not remember me- she
said.
Norah looked at hercuriously. 'Yot
are Christine she said. 4 remem
Der you now. Why did you com'
here, she asked coldly, after 20 years
absence?
i come to see you, Norah. It Ii
your own faulttha only dare com,
now, secretely.'
i am q leper, suppose
you know what people say ant
think of you. You know what thing
you have written and published
well in the worlds own way o
thinking, if am---what I am; you ar
the wife of Nils Crogsrad.' xsE
my husband has long since re
turned to society, and is now the mos
respectable man in the city. It i
known that for a short period he wa
slandered and misunderstood. Whel