Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1898-02-03

Continued

she was fond of artistic effects. She
smiled languishingly upon me as she
reached the altar, and sunk on her
knees beside me in prayer. The music
swelled forth with redoubIed grandeur,
the priests and acOlytes appeared, the
marriage service commenced. AS
placed the ring on the book L glanced
turtiVely at the brid; her fair head
was bent demureIy-she seemed abb
sorbed in holy meditations. The priest
having performed the ceremony of
sprinkling it with holy water, l took
it back, and set it for the second time
on my Wife's soft white little hand
set it in accordance with the Catholic
ritual, first on the thumb, then on the
second finger, then on the third, and
lastly on the fourth, where | left 1t in
its old place, wondering as | did So
and murlnured, I'm Nomine PATHS ct
Fill ct Spiritus Sancti, Amen!"
whether she recognized it as the one
she had worn so long! But it was
evident she did not; her calm was
unbroken by even so much as a start
or tremor; she had the elf-possession
of perfectly satisfied beautiful, vain,
and utterly heartless woman.
The actual ceremony of marriage
was soon over; then followed the
Mass, III which we, the newly-wedded
pair, were compelled, in submission to
the rule of the Church, to receive the
Sacrament. | shuddered as the VEN
cradle priest gave me the Sacred Host
What had l to do with the inward
purity and peace this memento of
Christ is supposed to leave in our
souls! Methought the Crucited
Image in the chapel regarded me
afresh with those panied eyes and
said, Even so dost thou seal thine
own damnation!" Yet she, the true
murderess, the arch liar, received the
Sacrament with the face of a rapt an
gel-the very priest himself seemed
touched by those appraised, candid.
glorious eyes, the sweet lips so rever-
emily parted, the absolute, reliable
peace that rested on that white brow,
like an aureOle round the head of a
saint!
eff | am damned, then is she thrice
damned!' | said to myself, recklessly.
Il daresay hell is wide enough for us
to live apart when we get there"
Thus l consoled my conscience, and
turned resolutely away from the
painted appealing faces on the wall
the faces that in their various express
sions of sorrow, resignation, pain, and
death seemed now to be all pervaded
by another look, that of astonishment
establishment, so | fancied, that such
a man as |, and such woman as she,
should be found in the width of the
whole world, and should be permitted
struck dead for their blasphemy!
All, good saints, we'll may you be
to kneel at Gods altar without being
astonished! Had you lived in our day
you must have endured worse martyr
doms than the boiling oil or the
wrenching rack! What you suffered
was the mere physical pain of torn
muscles and scorching flesh, pain that
at its utmost could not last long; but
and power, and were glorious in the
light of love, faith, hope, and charity
with all men. We have reversed the
position you occupied We have partly
learned, and are still learning, how
to take care of our dearly beloved
bodies, how to nourish and clothe
them and guard them from cold and
disease; but our souls, good saints,
the souls that with you were every
thing-these we smirch, burn, and
rack. torture and destroy-these we
stamp upon till we crush out Gods
image therefrom-these we spit and
jeer at, cruelty and drown! There is
the difference between you, the strong
and wise of fruitful olden time, and
we, the miserable, puny weaklings of
a sterile modern age.
Had you, sweet st. Dorothy, or fair
ehild-saint Agnes, lived in this day,
you would have felt something sharp
er than the eXecutioner's sword; for
being pure, you would have been
dubbed the worst of women-being
prayerful, you would have been called
hypocrites- being faithful, you would
have been suspected of all vileness-
being loving, you would have been
mocked at more bitterly than the SOL
diers of Pontius PLATE Knocked Christ;
but you would have been free-free to
indulge your own opinions, for ours is
the age of liberty. Yet how much bet
ter for you to have died than have
lived till now!
Absorbed in strange, half-morose
half-speculative fancies, I scarcely
heard the close of the solemn service
was reused by delicate touch from
my wife, and | woke, as it were, with
a start, to hear the sonorous, crashing
chords OF the wedding march in "Lo,
hengrin' laundering through the air
All was over: my wife was mine in
deed-mine most thoroughly-mi b!
the exceptionally close-tied knot of {
double marriaee-mine to do as
would with till death should US part.
How long, / gravely unused, how Ion:
before death could come to do us thi
great service? And straightway 1 be
gan counting, counting certain space
of time that must elapse before
was still absorbed in this menta
arithmetic, even while mechanical
offered my arm to my wife as we en-
tered the vestry to sign our names L
the marriage register. So occupie
was | in my calculations that l nearl
caught myself inurmuring certai