Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-01-17
Continued.


"Perhaps now the poor mar
thought, perhaps now she Will hnt
what she wants, and can rest and bt
satisfied, and our life will return II
US. This maternal feeling must Ger
tainly be i very powerful and a very
precious factor in woman's making
or such an one as my wife would mo-
be so touched and shaken by its ad
vent and growth in Der 1t is a mys
terry. III truth, thus TO come sc late
born out of due season rs it were, anC
so strongly to take possession Of her
I certainly never should have classeG
her among the true mothers, the pro
ducing women; they should be of 3
more robust, more animal type alto
gether 1t is a most remarkable case
with curious complications. It is the
daughter-the feminine part of her
my wife yearns and pants for, the
masculine element seems to affect her
but little; when our son Dacre visits
us have in vain looked for any symp-
toms of satisfaction or restfulness
'I feel so unusually depressed and
aged, this afternoon" he went on,
slowly, laying down his fruitless pen,
and gazing with sad eyes out of the
window, ''even my ordinary lucidity
of brain seems clOuding and thicken-
ing. 1t cannot be THAT | have already
reached the ultimatum, and that the
period of decadence is now upon me-
that cannot surely be! Only just forty
seven" he cried softly. and his face
sank down in his hands on the study
table
He raised it again, and went over to
his cabinet and touched his heaps of
manuscript one by one with loving
lingering tenderness, but little shak-
lily.
'"This but just begun he murmured
"this but just wanting the verification
of a new work, the most comprehend
sive, the most exact we have yet made
-ah. this book would have been very
close up to the truth. nearer to it than
anything yet produced.-She looked
with such keen, such very youthful
pleasure to the lighter task Of com
pilation; that youthfulness in her in
tellectual pleasures is Il very precious
gift of my wife.
"Here is a little satirical skit she
wrote in a playful moment. how
charming it is, how delicate! All. my
sweet young wife! More notes-more
and so few worked out to their final
conclusion! Must | then take these
symptoms as those of untimely decay"
he whispered sitting down again, 81,
who looked to long year of honest la
Dor in which I might have forged on
farther than my fellows. and have
erected some fresh fnger-pOSt on the
road to everlasting truth? To stop
now, when the world is crying and
wailing in the darkness of it's ignor-
ance. when men grasp any scrap of
verified knowledge as a drowning man
a straw. and must I be swept down
the hill before I have breasted the
crest? Must / sink TO oblivion with
my work but Just begun, and with the
heat of battle strong upon me-and she
my wife, my own my helpmeet-DO
none of these things strike and touch
her, does this overmastering strange
tumult of new emotions shut her
heart to the awful beauty of truth?
at is strange" he repeated. strange
and very sad The swift-running
smooth course of life has been par
alyzed for me- | ann oppressed with
torturing doubts and-and-I believe
1t is not age it is not the years which
have stunned my powers. I believe it
is this new phase of her life; then
comes the consideration: is this pass
ing phase. or is it permanent? I can
not face the question: he cried with
n groan holding his head in both
hands to steady it.
Then he took his hat and stick, and
made mechanically for the Rectory.
She always came from that direc-
ton. and always sadder than when
she went forth.
But today she was different. When
she saw her husband she did not keep
to her ordinary soft listIess movement,
and then when she reached him, slip
her hand into Ills mechanically from
mere reflex action. and strike out
eagerly into an infant anecdote.
She started and flushed. and ran
toward him with outstretched hands,
and looked wistfully up in his face,
first time, the great change in the man
flashed into her and her heart stood
still and her brain reeled
"Henry! she cried. "My Henry, yorI
are tiredr'
He stopped wonderingly closer to
her. Dearest. nor
She gaZed with sckening dread up
into his face.
"Ah. YES Won are tired and sad
Mr.. FelloweS has been telling me SC
much. making things clear. and-and
yes. you are older. and I never saw
It until this instant"
envy love I am wellr' he said, ca
reSSing her softly.
ut is I who have done this. Horny
she silenced his protest with 4 soft
imperious moticn-"they saw it week:
ago: am a bad wife now. rs have
been bad mother-ah that IS very
sadr'
She laid her head down on theil
clasped hands and with a little shud
der broke into soft sObhinG
'You are a most true. gost nobl,
wife" he whispered "my hhlpmeet il
all thingSr'
"I have gone away and neglected
you. and you have grown older"
"Come home. my best beloved. CONF
home and rest"