San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1893-09-28
The Daily Eight.
THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER IS, 's3
THE HOME CORNER.
BY JULIA FRUIT BISHOP.
Written for the LIGHT.

Written for the LIGHT.
You have read "0uC Mutual
Friend" and you know Charley
HeXam, the boy who stands forth
as the embodiment Of the most
heartless selfishneSs. During all
the wears of his bOyhOOd his sister
had sacrificed herself for him. She
had gone without education her.
self that she might keep him at
school. Every thought had been
for him, every ambition for him.
AS for the boy himself, he had &C
cepted all her sacrifices as a matter
of course, and came to look on
them as his right. He reached the
point where he regarded all that
she did as nothing more than her
duty. And the time came when he
stood up and looked this sister in
the face and accused her Of selfish
ness, and of always considering
herself and never him.
When | first knew the character
in this immortal book, l looked
upon young HeXam as a gross eX-
aggerati0n, utterly impossible in
real life, but now | am not so sure.
| have seen more phases of this one
great vice, since then, and | have
come to the conclusion that selfish
ness is at the root of more unhaD-
piness than could ever be counted
or estimated. If we could trace
them up, what an awful sum total
they would make! Nine times in
ten, the cases of "inCOmpatibility"
of temper are all founded on utter
selfishness. Uncongenial," are
they, and the skeleton in the closet
scarcely takes the pains to close the
door when it hears company COM
ing? UnCOngenial, indeed Throw
away this pretty word, and bring
on a palmer and more prOsaic one.
They are merely sci fish.
Now where it happens that both
husband and wife are both selfish,
why that is we'll enough. Let them
fight it out, and he who wins is the
better man. But among the most
sOrrOwful tragedies of Iife-and
there are tragedies enough, and not
all of them are behind the foot
lights, lis that where selfish
ness and unSelfiShnesS are
uneqUaIIy yOked together.
Where one yields all, and the
other demands all; where one
makes a perpetual sacrifice Of self
and the other requires such a sac
ritice, why that is melancholy
spectacle. You and | know that
there are husbands whose every
wish must be gratified, whose ease
and pleasure must always be con-
suited, who expect to find every
thing Away charming and agree
able when they come home; with
never clOuded brow and
never the least unpleasentness to
jar upon their sensitive nerves. If
there has been trouble at home
during the day the wife mustn't
mention it. The very children
must walk on tiptOe and speak
with lowered voices, why? Because
papa is at home, and he is tired
with his days work, and must not
be worried. Yet his wife, who is
tired too, perhaps; whose day has
been long and trying one too,
bears all these burdens and is ex-
pected to make no complaint. If
she should break down sometime;
If, in some moment of utter weari-
ness she should say One-half of
what must come from her veIy
heart, what would be the result, /
wonder? Why John would throw
away his slippers and jerk on his
coat and shoes and post off down
town, where he ''cOuld have little
peace ~ All, this is a sad world,
when it turns around that John
and Mary must live in the same
house, and that all the peace is for
John, and none of it for Mary.
And then it sometimes happens
that it is Mary who is the chief
person in the house; the center of
the whole planetary system, as it
were with the sun and stars re-