The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-12-01
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M IN - HE was q little
T1gL dressmaker
GH~ whom every
@ M body respected,
@Hp' Init w hO in

@% but who, in
spite Of the fact that her family con
sisted of only one, and that n he~
self, had lever climbed the hill of diff
ficulty, but was forever at the foot.
She had ambitions and ideals, after
which she was perpetually striving in
for daily existence. She had possibly
some dreams of love, but there was
always a dismal awakening until she
had come to look upon her circum-
scribed area of life as the only camp
ing ground fate was willing she should
have. So she made herself comfort
able with the material at hand, and
tried to think herself happy when her
four walls were the boundaries of her
world.
Contentment came, if not happiness,
md then the disturbing element Of
love entered into her domain and took
possession. At least she, who was not
familiar with the lear visage of love,
tni>took the intruder for the winged
rod. and babe him welcome. To drop
metaphor, h was continually meeting
D. man upon the stairs of the boarding
house. which was her Rialto. He vas
Il lonely single man of gentlemanly
appearance, but to the eye of the in
itiated he bore the unmistakable signs
of dissipation. Miss Lonsdale, the lit
tie dressmaker, was not initiated. She
believed him to be suffering from i'll
health, the result of dependency, and,
woman-like, first pitied, then loved
him. His name was Maurice Dunbar.
and he told her that his family had dis
owned him because he was poor.
This seemed perfectly natural to
Miss Lonsdale, for she herself looked
on poverty as a disease or crime and
Stunned contact with the more for
tunate of her fellow beings.
They were married and she soon
found hat with a conjugal compile
ment she was a complete failure. She
had used her burial fund as a marriage
dowry, and, while it lasted, they lived
on the fat of the land. She found her
husband had ~extravagant tastes and
she gratiied him. He had no money,
so she provided him with all she had,
and, when it was gone, went back to
llCi ulCSoLhohih PioASooioh !"
which matrimony is always fatal.
She was absent-minded. and nearly
cut off a customers ear with her fit
ting shears. She no longer chatted
and beguiled the time of her fashion
able people with quaint reminders of
other customers. They grew tired of
her and took their custom elsewhere.
o,,x - <Ia ,e,1 -,or a,ase
wings trailed in the dust and were de-
spoiled. When she could no longer
maintain him. her husband abused her.
Il made you a lady when | married
you," he said; my family is far above
yours" and he would pose dramatic
ally like an injured lord.
Il have no family" she would an
swer in n tear-choked voice, Except
you. Be good to me, Maurice, and !
will do anything for you. You need
not lift a finger; only be good to me-"
The disposition of a man to whom
such an appeal is necessary is already
brutalized beyond redemption. He
went from bad to worse, gambled,
drank, and ended by beating his wife,
and turning her out of doors.
That is not pleasant to read about;
think, then, what it must have been
to endure. Mrs. Dunbar went to the
house of one whom she had befriend-
ed to ask shelter for the night. 1t was
declined on the ground that there was
no vacant room. She would have
taken her friend in and sat up all
night that she might rest well. There
was one other family, but on
the steps of their house her
heart failed her and she turned