San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-06-11

vi fOdu W HOJtl supp
ped at the telegraph Office and dispatched
the news of Stella's death tn Guido Fer
rari in Rome. He would be surprised
thought but certainly not grieved-the
poor child had always been in his way.
Would he come back to Naples to console
the now childlesS widow? Not he!-he
would know well that she stood in very
small need of straightforward that she
took Stella's death as she had taken mine
as blessing and not a bereavement.
On reaching my own rooms, gave orders
to Vincenzo that l was not at home to
any one who might call-and l passed
the rest of the day in absolute solitude.
/ had much to think of. The last frail
tie between my wife and myself had been
snapped asunder-the child, the one in
nocent link in the long chain Of false
hood and deception, no longer existed
Was l glad or sorry for this? asked
myself the question hundred times
and | admitted the truth, though l
trembled to realize it was glad-yeS
glad! Glad that my own child was
dead! You call this inhuman perhaps?
Why? She was bound to have been
miserable; she was now happy.
ut VI utT pdTeubS lives
could be enacted without embittering and
darkening her young days, she was out
of it all, and 1 rejoiced to know it. For
was absolutely relentless, had my lit
tie Stella lived, not even for her sake
would have relaxed in one detail of my
vengence-nothing seemed to me SO
paramount as the necessity for restoring
my own self-respect and damaged hon
our. In England l know these things
are managed by the divorce court Law
yers are paid exorbitant fees, and the
names of the guilty and innocent are
dragged through the revolving slums of
the low London press. 1t may be an
excellent method-but it does not tend
to elevate man in his own eyes, and it
certainly does not do much to restore his
lost dignity. 1t has one advantage-it
enables the criminal parties to have their
way without further INTERCHANGEABLE
wronged husband is set free-left out In
the .cold-and laughed at by those who
wronged him. An admirable arrange
ment no doubt-but one that would not
suit me. Chacun son govt! 1t would
be curious to know in matters Of this
kind whether divorced persons are really
satisfied when they have got their d.
vorce-whether the amount Of red tape
terest has done them good and really
relieved their, feelings. Whether, for
instance, the betrayed husband is glad
to have got rid Of his unfaithful wife by
throwing her with the full authority
and permission of the law into his
rivals arms? / almost doubt it! l
heard Of strange case in England
once. A man, moving in good society,
having more than suspicious OF his
wife's fidelity, divorced her-the law
pronounced her guilty. Some years
afterwards he, being free, met her
again, fell in love with her for the sec
ond time and remarked her. She was
(naturallyD delighted at his making
such fool Of himself-for henceforth,
whatever she chose to do. he could not
reasonably complain without running
the risk Of being laughed at So now
the number and variety of her lovers
is notorious in the particular social cir
Gle where she moves-while he,
poor wretch, is perforce tongue tied,
and dare not consider himself wronged.
There is no more pitiable object in the
world than such man,-seCretly derided
and jeered at by his fellows, he occupies
an almost worse position than that Of a
galley-slave, while in his own esteem he
has sunk so low that he dare not, even in
secret, try to fathom the depth to which
he has fallen. Some may assert that to
be divorced is a social stigma. 1t used
to be so perhaps, but society has grown
verp lenient nowadays Divorced women
hold their own in the best and most bril-
liant circles, and what is strange is that
they are very generally petted and
pitied. ... ...
poor thingr' says Society, putting
up its eyeglass to scan admirably the
beautiful heroine of the latest aristo-
cratic scandal-''she had such brute of
husband! No wonder she liked that
dear Lord So-and-So! Very wrong of her
of course, but she is so young! She was
married at sixteen-quite a child!-could
not have known her own mind!p
The husband alluded to might have
been the best and most chivalrous OF
men,-anything but a "brute,"-yet he
always figures as such somehow, and
gets no sympathy. And, by the way, it
is rather a notable fact that all the beau
tiful, famous, or notorious women were
married at sixteen" How is this man
aged? l can account for it in Southern
climates, where girls are full-grown at
sixteen and old at thirty,-but / cannot
understand its being the case in Eng
land, where "miss" Of sixteen is most
Objectionable and awkward ingenue,
without any OF the charms wherewith
to charm" and whose conversation is
always vapid and silly to the point of alb
| solute exhaustion on the part Of those
who are forced to listen to it. These six
teen-year-old marriages are, however, the
only explanation friskY English matrons
can give for having such alaTmiEGlv