The Indianapolis journal., 1892-05-22


for soldier. Let hIm go; 1T won't do him
any HARM"
The poor womaD's eyes were filled with
tears She bad loving mothers horror OF
the army. she instantly pictured her boy
a mangled corpse on the battlefield. his
lImbs being scattered about in different
directions by shells and cannon balls.
oh; my ..,pS poor Tom; my poor Tom" ;sl she me
ness all his days than he should have done
that. Jim. you must 60 and find out where
he 10. and he must be bought Of"
Nonsense" replied her husband IF he's
listed let him have q taste o. the baccy.
It'll do him good. and make a man of him.
Besides. il costs lot o. money to buy of.
and you amt going to waste your money
on him me any more. No, Maria. you've
thrown the Hact O Parliament in my face.
and not one penny of your earnings do |
ever touch again; and if the tov's to be
bought off I'll do it myself-when L can
afford it,"
Before he made this speech Jim Dester
had carefully Docketed his wife's two
pounds. But with that trIfiing exception,
he honestly meant what he said.
At that moment q servant came down
stairs and told Mrs Dester she was wanted
at once in the side room. so with a hurried
handshake husband and wife parted. and
that was to be the last meeting for long
time to come.
The Shark finished absolutely last for the
City and Suburb ban. and Jim Dester found
himself in Manchester with his available
capital reduced to quite nominal n som; s"m;
without loss of time for something
to DO. He had not been quite
candid with his wife. He had come to
Manche ster because lie had an old governor
esta bills he'd there ho was friendly to him.
but he was also anxious to he away from
London in case the Shark should. after all.
fail to get home for the City and Suburban.
The truth is he had. In the language of ia
haute finance, negotiated loan some time
ago. when he was In good situation. for
five and twenty pounds. and had signed
something which he called "a paper for IL.
He didn't take the trouble TO master the
contents of the paper, because at the time
tho loan was as ho SAID. n mere temporary
arrangement He was going to make a
fortune within very short time by
putting f10 on dark horse for
the Derby-a horse which an exceed
ingiy clever division were conf
dent could beat all the other horses en-
gagged in that classic race by the length of
a street. AS this f10 was put on at the eX-
tremely remuneratiye odds of 80 TO /. and
Mr.. Dester would. therefore. shortly be the
proud and happy possessor of $500. b. g
didn't take much care of the odd f15, but
had couple of days at q suburban race
meeting with it. and promptly got rid OF
the lot.
1t never entered his head to spend any of
1t on his home. or mis- wife. or his son. He
had married hard working little woman,
with an excellent nursing connection
among the best families. a clever woman
too, who had her certificate. and was high
ly recommended by 1.-The faculty" Being
In constant emp mploy ment and earning good
money. Mrs. Dester had been generously
allowed by her husband to get the homo
together and provide all the necessary
household expenses. Jim felt that the hon.
or of having him as husband was an ample
return for her outlay. He wasn't a bad,
hearted man. not what the world would
call q scoundrel. He was merely q careless
selfish man. who thought of nobody but
himself, and who felt that when he did
earn anything he was entitled to spend 1t
entirely as he chose. For over eighteen
years be had lived in this way. and it was
not till he parted with his furniture behind
his wlfes back, that the said back. like the
cameis. was broken. and the last straw
caught fire and led to general domestic
conf1agratiop.
And then. for the first time. his obedient
and long-euffering wife tar forgot her.
self as to inform her lord and master that
he was only a guest In his own house, and
TO crush him with an act of Parliament.
He had never recognized the situation be-
fore. Hehad never seriously considered it. 1t
seemed to him. a free born Engllshman. with
all the advantages of early Sunday school
teaching, that q wife was a chattel to do
what he liked with. and that any pretense
on her part to have separate interests or
private property was Tying In the face OF
the marriage service. and utterly opposed
to the teachings of Christianity. AS soon
as he had graspcd his wife's meaning he
put this new departure down to
the spread of Radicalism and athe-
istical teaching. which he considered
the curse of the age. He objected 10
it on religious grounds. on political
grounds, and on personal grounds he felt it
most deeply of all. All the pride of his
manhood revolted against the idea. and as
you are aware, he left his home got drunk.
was locked up all night. borrowed his fine
and two pounds over from his wife, and
left for Manchester in order that he might
once more eat the bread and drink the
beer of independence.
He succeeded in getting situation. not
with bis old governor, but his old governor
recommended him to the manager of an
hotel where extra hands were wanted. and
Jim had the satisfaction of being taken on
at good wage. with fair chance OF
making q bit" and Is it was place
where board and lodging were provided in
the house, he was for q time ION velvet"
He wrote TO his wife at once. and in
formed her that he was on the high road to
fortune. He had secured a good place, he
should save money, and not return until he
was in q position to be master of his own
house by right of purchase and by right of
payment.
His wife wrote back to him. She had
been home for an hour or two. and seen to
the things. and she forwarded him o letter
which had come for him. She was very
sorry to be separated from him. but as he
was In q good place and earning money she
would endeavor to bear it. She concluded
with much love and the assurance that
when he wanted to come home he was to
remember that there would always be q
welcome for him at Bayham street, Cam
den Town.
Jim read his wife's letter and then
opened the c0e inclosed in 1t. 1t was q
letter from the man he owed R25 land IN
terest" too. Ghd was full of vague threats OF
legal prOce1dings without further no.
tice." etc. yim threw 1t in the fire. and I'M
mediately wrote back to his wife, request
ing her under no circumstances to give his
address to any one. He 1Idn't want a lot
of his old associates 10 write to him and
give him tips for races. as he was going to
give up betting. and he didn't want to be
led into temptation" When he had posted
the letter he chuckled. They'll have to
find me fret before they can take legal pro-
ceedings," he said to himself. land If the
old woman don't split Pm safe here"
He kept his place. but he didn't save
money. He soon found that Mancheste,
was almost as big sporting center as Lon
don, and he continued to hack his fancy
with the usual disastrous results. If he
won on ono race he lost ON six. and the end
of the week generally found him % bit tC
the bad"
The most remark able thing about the lit.
tie punterA the men who back horses with
out knowing anything abont horses. Is that
no amount of loss, no amount of milling
ever makes them see the utter hopeless.
ness of their task. Gambling is form OF
insanity. 1t is as hard to wean a gambler
from gambling as it is n drunkard from
drink. vicious man from vice, or a crimI
4 ar will Lot