The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1898-05-05

and do love him So" she added with
a sigh. "But," she continued, eff he
does not love me any more 1 will have
to go home to my parents"
That was indeed melanchoIic and
not according to my expectations, after
reading the enthusiastic letters from
Fred, wherein he did not seem to be
able to praise his sweetheart-wife
enough. But there must be something
wrong. 1t did not seem like it could
all be true, and joining Fred 1 began to
question him.
"You ought to be as happy as the
birds that sing so sweetly, with such a
lovely wife and such poetic domicile.' -
II was" he said, "the happiest mortal
alive when we first came here, but
something seems to have crept in and
destroyed that happiness. OF late, Lily
has grown cold and Indifferent and is
not the same girl married year
ago."
That was the situation and as nice a
case as divorce lawyer could wish
for. There would be the usual charges
of cruelty; it is true there was no phys
ical cruelty but there was mental cru
city and who can say that mental cru.
city is any less severe than physical
cruelty; and the pity of it was that it
was all caused by some trifling misun-
derstanding. But it is those little tri-
fies that cause not only the majority of
all domestic troubles, but the majority
of all troubles of whatsoever kind.
The days went on and time instead
of healing, widened and deepened the
chasm between my friend and his wife
One day while talking to Lily, Fred
happened to come in and caught some
of the musical words that his wife
spoke, but went out suddenly with his
features more darkened than ever be.
fore. Feeling that something ought
to be done my impulse led me to follow
him.
After joining him and startinga con-
versation on some trifiing matter, l
turned it suddenly to the matter in
hand by saying: "Your wife seems to
be in better mood this morning; she
talked pleasantly with me moment
ago."
"Yes." he said with Jealous CLEAN
in his eye, "she can talk pleasantly to
others, but she has nothing to say to
me and she does not care for me any
more, either"
"You are doing your wife injustice
by acting as you do toward her."
II am not; it is she that is unjust tc
me; and the only thing left for me to
do, is to get a divorce and get out OF
this misery"
There was no use of arguing the mat
ter any further and some other meas
ure must be adopted, and indications
seemed to call for some heroic measure
The opportunity for applying it came
the following morning while we were
partaking of some repast. Casting a
glance around 1 turned suddenly to
Fred and said in an Indifferent tone
"How sweet and lovely Lily looks this
morning!"
Lily blushed deeply and cast a sly
glance at Fred, at the same moment
he glanced at her, and their eyes met
but what they saw there none but
themselves knew. But the love that
shone there was bright and warm
enough to pierce and melt the barrier
of ice that had formed between them
An understanding was arrived at and
he kicked himself for having been a
brute to his lovely sweetheart She
had lovely cry and put all the blame
on herself for the differences that had
come between them. The crisis was
broken and the yawning divorce mil
had been defrauded of two victims.
After that they did not have much
time to waste with me or anything
else. He did not seem happy away
from her side, and she seemed to be
afraid of defrauding him of one single
smile. Upon seeing that there was
no room for third party in love af
fair and that my absence would be
more agreeable than my presence de-