Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-09-16
CHAPTER I.
A Lover. Quarrel.


~ wiling to marry me"
They were seated in the drawing
room Of house in Kensington. She
was beside the window sitting with
some embroidery on her lap, to which
she turned from time to time. He sat
on 9 chair little further back keeping
his eyes hxed on her face.
AS he spoke the last words she
turned her head away from him and
gazed out of the window into the road.
"A silence Of some minutes followed,
which neither cared to break At last
she turned her head again and looked
at him.
You will not understand me- she
said. ITO you 1t seems that marriage
IS the only object for which woman
lives | have been taught to think
differently TO me it seems that
woman has right to make her own
career Independently. Because you
love me that does not cause you to
Elacken in the pursuit of your ambi-
ton. Why should my love for you
compel me to give up the vocation for
which | have trained myself during the
last two years?"
He shifted in his seat a little I'M
easily.
What is your vocatioh?" he re-
sorted. Nursing? Think what that
involves You cut yourself off from the
pleasant things o. life; you enter a
hospital to work under the orders of
doctors who regard you as mere ma
chine. If you were yourself the doctor,
If you were following some art, like
painting or the writing OF books,
could understand what you call your
vocation; but surely no woman can
look forward to the drudgery of nurs-
Ing as happier or better life than
what she will find in marriage"
You are SO impatient. You forget
that am only asking you to wait for
a time. Give me chance, let me see
how this work suits me. We are both
young; you are only twenty-four and
4 am not yet twenty-one. Let us
know each other better before you ask
me finally to sever myself from the
calling which l have always looked
upon as my own
'fLet us know each other betteri"
He gave her a quick glance of sus-
picion What do you mean by that,
Gertrude? | should have thought If
you knew me well enough to take that
ring esRcn is ~ your finger, you
would know me well enough to take
the other ring which you have prom
Used to let me place beside it." He
hesitated for moment, and then
added, in a lower voice: Are you
quite sure there is no other reason for
POUR hesitation, Gertrude?"
It was her turn to seem embarrassed.
She made an attempt to take up the
embroidery, which had fallen neglected
on her lap, as she replied:
What other reason do you mean?"
He did not answer her directly.
~How long is it since you have felt
this Discrimination to let our engage
ment reach its natural end?' he
asked.
THAT is not the way to put it. You
knew that l was looking forward to
the career of nurse when accepted
you. l did not promise to abandon
that career, nor did ! contemplate that
you would ask me to do So"
~aSurely every woman who promises
to marry man says that she is ready
TO marry him as soon as he is able to
call upon her to fulfill her pledge.
do not think that you were one of
those women who regarded marriage
as beneath you
She made a gesture of despair; then,
springing to her feet, regardless of the
work which rolled upon the floor she
stood before him.
Can you not understand l have a
longing to feel that l am capable OF
making my own way in the world? l
wish to enjoy, for however short a
time, the privilege Of feeling that l
I'm independent of anyone. l have
spent these years in studying and
training for that very purpose. You
ire a man. You are accustomed TO
rely upon yourself and to take it as
4 natural thing that you should stand
ilone in the world independent of any
,uperior; but to a woman that is
very rare and precious feeling; it is
Keeling that I have always longed to
enjoy. At last ii is within my reach,
md the moment that l enter st.
Jeromes Hospital / shall be able, as
It were, to snap my fingers at the
world. Not only do l satisfy my own
aspirations, but l show an example to
other women of what can be done
have the feeling that I can contribute,
In very small degree, to the move
ment for the emancipation of our sex.
may not be able to make speeches
on platforms. but / can show an ex-
ample, and by doing so can keep
n1.,ooc+ 80 n x,-hial, bnx,n