Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-09-17

This fact expedited the marriage which
in any case would now shortly have oc-
CURED.
And a miserable marriage it had
proved. The brides awakening was
inevitable; it was also cruelty speedy.
The very word ''infidel' had long been
horror to her. She was now called
upon to meet that horror, palpable and
persistent, at almost every step she
took. Some women might have loved
a husband all the more dearly because
disillusion had thus roughly handled
him: there are feminine affections
boarding that self-creative energy of
| repair which is like the way its recur-
rent grass heals the raw cash in n
meadow. But Georgina was not
wrought of that clay. She bore May
nard two boys, and by this time her
| love had grown as autu1nnai as her
look To save these babes from the
whitening blight of her husbands i'm
piety was alike her purpose and her
prayer. There were moments when her
strained mind came near breaking its
| bonds of sanity and reeling into that
sort of medea-lille bloodshed which now
and then bespatters the columns of our
as those four little childish ears grew
maturer and more receptive. Maynard
would be sure to try and impregnate
the hearts of either son with his devil
ish theories. There began to glimmer
a hope concerning Sylvan. however.
The lad showed signs of having inher-
tied his mother religious temperament.
Georgina felt that the devOtions which
she imposed upon him were far from
unwelcome. Gerald, on the other hand,
would often yawn and pout with an ir-
reverence that seemed full of dark fore
holdings to the vigilant maternal eye.
Meanwhile Maynard, who had been
blameworthy for not having told his
sweetheart that he was quite without
all conventional creed until the law had
made them one, now acquitted himself
amiably and gently in the extreme.
Perhaps the bitterest thing that he said
to his wife for a long period after their
marriage was the following chain of
sentences, delivered more in depression
than reprOach:
well. Georgina, l suppose there's
no use of my asking you to sponge off
the slate and begin all over again. You
probably think some things are there
which no sponge could wipe out. And
upon my word. if you were to say SO, |
should quite agree with you. Only,
they're not all marks of my making,
Heaven knows"
''Heaven.' she repeated ''What a
strange word from y0ur lips, Egbert!
Do you believe in One?'
''Who is so devout," he answered, mot
sometimes to find such Il faith very
hard?"
'.Oh, 1 won't listen to abominable
thoughts like those cried Georgina,
hurrying toward the door. She paused
before quitting the room. and hurled
forth angrily at her husband: ''As if
any better proof of Heavens goodness
were wanted, Egbert Maynard, than
that you're permitted to stand there
and insult it without being struck
dead"
What conceivable satisfaction would
there be for it in striking me dead" bes
gan Maynard, If, as you state" But
she had fed from his profane presence,
and so he left the sentence unfinished.
He did not usually wound her like
this; ne indeed sedulously avoided do
ing so. She was always ready with
some attack, pcevish or irate. One sum-
mer day, few months later, some com
pulsory visit of courtesy took them past
the immense pillared pile of Maryle-
bone Church. Gushing in rich u1n bragg
from behind their solemn brick walls,
rose the maple-trees, plenteOus and
vocal; through the iron bars of old
gateways the passer could glimpse occa-
sional gardens radiant with geranium
and rose. Bathed in the moist. silvery
air of an English June, over this entire
quarter brooded a witchery not woven
by beauty alone. You felt that behind
those dingy walls a prodigious amount
of life must have lived-perhaps some of
it poetic or dramatic-and that the muir
murs of the big boughs overhanging
those secluded doorwayS might mean
some sort of airy saga concerningi it. The
duslly and stately church, with all the
huge columnar sobriety of its architect
ure, and with the beggars and other
lOungerS along its steps, gave to the
suns bright search many steel-gray or
smoky tint which gloomier weather
would have left hid.
Maynard. though of late his days had
become more than ever dedicated to
science. loved the pictorial element in
things with a hearty fondness. How
gloriously sunshine and good weather
improve this town of ours" he said to
his wife as they strolled onward. Il
don't believe there is more fascinat-
ing part of London than just this strip
of road; and as for the effect of that
sedate old church yonder, it is simply
enchanting in the absence of cloud, fog
or rain
Georgina gave panied start. WHAT
she queried, with grim irony. You
admire church under any circum-
stances, Egbert. I'm greatly astonished
to hear you say the least good word for
one"
Maynard sighed in a wearied way,
and touched her arm in transient re-
monstrance.
''Georgina," he appealed. will you
always keep harping on our different
views? Lots of husbands live happily
with their wives though as opposite
from one another in creed as pole from
pole"
''Creed?" she returned, with a sullen
hardness. Il did not know that you
had any creed whatever.'
He laughed propitiatingly. "Well,
haven't, in your sense. But, come
now, you've the best of one: you've
got the children to bring up in your
own faith! 1 let you do it. Idon't try
to make the little chaps agnostics
That's concession surely. Why, look |