Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1897-01-28

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nave 20 give money to woman who
ueaus MIN as scornfully as If he was
dirt under her feet
It's my own fault. She did love ne
once, just as she said. And made her
nome miserable one. I wish l vas
dead!'
| NO mere words can express the pas
slonate fervor with which the wish was
uttered.
| On, WE'LL said the other, in a care
less, sneering voice, tits pretty certain
sne don't care shucks for you now. sd
let's go in somewhere and have a
drink
No, she don't care for me any more, .
seemed to come involuntarily froul the
| haaT-closed lips of George, as he turned
on MS heel and walked away. He ram.
Dled down by the wharf, and score
OF times was tempted to jump into the
river and end the aching weight ct his
heart that pressed him down like a
lump Of lead.
One astonishing thing grew OUT of
the scorn his wife had cast at him. lie
would let her see that he was not the
lost object of loathsome disgust she
had SO pitilessly set him down to be.
Not another glass of liquor would he
drink-never again would he gamble.
| The next morning he presented him.
self before man who had formerly
employed him, after such a cleansing
of his person and attire as had not
been effected in years before.
| "Mr. Truman he said, 81 want to
try and be better man. Will you give
me a position? You can give me any
| salary you like-Or none at all-till /
prove that am worthy to be trusted
George, gave you up long ago, but
I'll try you.'
| A month later the first three dollars
were sent to Mrs. Tudor. And so with
the second and third. He could have
| spared little more, but he had !; set
tied purpose in his mind. He was Dent
on saving every possible dollar till he
could set himself up in business and
show his wife that there was the right
stuff of manhood about him.
But the messenger he employed TO
! take the money Informed him that his
wife had been sick and was suffering
| for want Of sufficient food. He straight
way sent five dollars in addition, and
| began to double the amount of the
| monthly pay.
| 1t was now late in the fall and win
ter was fast approaching. He learned
that his wife's employment had fallen
away so that her means of subsistence
| became yet more circumscrbed. He
still further increased the amount Of
| his remittance. With a feeling Of pain
that struck him like blow, a portion
of it was returned, with the informa-
ton that she would not permit herself
| to encroach on his requirements.
| George took this as another proof of
how utterly she had cast him from her.
It hardened his heart to bitter feeling,
and he camevery near seeking to drown
recollection in another drunken de-
bauch. He said to himself she was
hard and cruel, and he would care
| nothing more about her.
But he found this was impossible.
CHANGING to see her one day, his heart
jumped with the old quick bound and
his pulse beat in a hot glow as he
watched the white, beautiful face. He
watched her graceful figure as far as
| he could distinguish it amid the throng,
and still gazed after the retreating
form long after it was gone. Every
harsh feeling vanised from his breast,
and he felt an inexpressible longing to
win her back to himself.
| And yet he knew it was useless. All
| love for him was dead in her heart.
The fire was extinguished and would
not be relighted.
As if to prove that this was true, the
| next money he sent to his wife came
back, with note stating that she had
accepted the position of companion to a
lady of wealth, which gave her such 4
home as would preclude any further
need of assistance.
'She's lost all feeling; she's as hard
as stone," he said.
| But he was mistaken. When some
days later the messenger who had car
ried the remittanceS to his wife sought
her presence with the announcement
that her husband was lying seriously
i'll she at once said:
Il will go to him. and she did so
| there and then.
She found him delirious, raving Of
! the wife he had lost. She nursed him
as only a true wife can. The doctor
gave but little hope Of his recovery. At
least, he said, he would have to suffer
a long, wasting sickness before there
would be any change for the better.
Mrs. Tudor bowed her head and pa
tiently fulfilled her wifely duties.
Thanks to her tender care more than
all other things, the crisis was passed,
and he began the slow process Of get
| ting well.
| BY this time their means were ex-
hausted, and the wife set herself to the
| task of earning bread for both, first re-
moving to a couple of cheap rooms to
get away from the very much extra
cost of boarding. Friends assisted
| them to a few articles of furniture, and