St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-05-09
An 6fchin$
from Life
By ADDIE FARRaR
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copyright, loos. nv n,,,x u.-n .

BY ADDIE FARRAR :
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WAS characteristic nf him +b,+he
should have married as he did. His
was d nature fu1lof generous impulses
"nu quick sympathies. She was poor
u alone, shouldering the burden of
existence under the load of ill
health and lingering disease. His
natural chivalry for women but as
serted itself when out of his greater
abundance he extended her many
pisonal comforts and little courte-
pres her meageG salary could not
sohipass. 1t never occurred to him
enat pettish and narrow, minded
worlo might misconstrue even the
Andest of intentions. Because of
.nls' III the end, he married her-not
wat ne loved her-his feeling for her
was but a plying affection. Then,
'oo' ne was lonely-a stranger in a
strange land, and just then home
o1 MS own meant much to him. In
q way his marriage meant little, for
IN all the 33 years of his life he
iad never felt but more than pass
ing interest in any woman. Love,
tnesloye he had dreamed of, had never
come into his life. He had an ar
dent, poetic temperament, and had
mad wonderful dreams of the per-
iect union of body and soul-the
only life of man and woman to-
gether.
NOW that he had settled down in
quiet domesticity and the care of
MS half-invalided wife, who, relieved
OF all the exertion of self-support,
mad blossomed into almost health, he
resolutely put aside such vague love
dreams and played at happiness. For
three years he had tried to believe
himself at least contented, and so
great was his loyalty to his wife, that
ne refused even to himself to ac-
knowledge that his restlessness and
unsatisfied longings came from aught
else than desire to amass COM
potency and an ambition to become
a certain factor in the great world;
to command for himself a certain de-
gree of influence and power.
AS for his wife, she was grateful
for his care,> and loved him as sucn
women love, with half-maternal
fondness that manifests itself in an
Irritating fussiness for the object of
its affection. She was the kind of
q woman who make better mothers
than wives, better housekeepers than
companions, and who, while possess
ing all the virtues of good woman,
yet lack the little arts that hold a
man. She didn't understand him, and
she believed in his talents and pos
sibilities only so far as they ma
terialized into gold. This money she
handled judiciously, fed him excel
lent dinners, and starved his soul.
She, however, was quite content;
she could not miss what she could
not fathom, and even after the other
woman came into his life she never
noted that he was different, that his
whole being was awake and alive,
quivering with new and undefnable
emotions.
They were singularly congenial.
there two, the other woman and he.
Their tastes, their work, their
thoughts, ran along the same chan
mel, and so great was their sympathy
from the first day of their mere &C.
quaintance they had quickly passed
into close friendship, and If her beau
ty and grace had at first attracted
him, her sweet disposition, her keen
intellectually, quick wit and gener-
GUS broad mindedness held him.
For many months he had been
regular visitor at her house, and
each succeeding day had brought to
him afresh the realization OF his love
for her. To him she was the one
desirable thing life held.
She was, and would always be the
dominant note of his life. She was
the woman of his dreams, and fame,
wealth and position appeared as
nothing beside her! Gladly would he
have renowned them all for her
sake, but only too well he realized
his position. His was strong ma
ture. and he fought valiantly for
what the world demanded of him.
his loyalty to his wife. Night after
night he had lain awake tossing in
his agony of hopeless love-the love
his Inns dared not utter, and there
was not waking moment that her
face was not before him.
For ten days he had martyred him.
self by staying away from her, but
regularly every night he had walked
rast, the house to catch glimpse of
her through the low windows, with
ont which he could not rest.
from outside he had watched her
among her guests, and wondered if
she missed him. He had longed so
10 oo in. to hear her voice in pleas
ant greeting, to see the flush arise
IN her cheeks, the roguish sparkle
in her eyes, but it was part of
+he punishment he had laid out for
himself that he should not.
A. he walked down the street, he
,o+;ced that the house was not light
81 hut by the rays of the summer
Moon he caught the futter OF
.vh;te dress on the veranda, and CON-
.S85gs -