Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1903-03-13
DEFENcELEsS.


Aiston. was a fortunate young man
who stepped into his fathers bust
ness shoes shortly after being we'd
ded 70 Clara Faywortliy, the girl Of
his choice. Prosperity and happiness
had waited on them from the com
mencement of their married life.
There were no children; but Jack
did not want any to divide his wife's
attention, and he scarcely noticed
her deep disappointment as each
succeeding year brought no change.
Clara adored him, and he was one
Of those men who like to be Worship
ped. Her negative qualities suited
him exactly He played upon her
sympathies and mental susceptible
ties as upon the responsive vibrations
/ of a musical instrument If he were
glad, she must share his gladness;
if ahings had gone wrong with him
/ from the loss of a collar-stud to a
| depression in the money market
/ his glum humors must affect her all
30 If It pleased him to discourse in
tellectually, his wife sat at his feet,
as was expected of her, and listened
with proper reverence to the words
of wisdom.
As for Jack he was just the sort
Of man to inspire a delicious kind of
idoiatry in one of those simple, trust
ing natures that can only be found
among women He was tall, gazed
unspeallable things out of a pair OF
llmped brown eyes, and concealed the
weakness of his mouth and chin by
a heavy dropping mustaehe. These
outward charms were considerably
heightened by leaning toward art
In general.
Jack sang sentimental songs in an
unframed tenor voice, leaving out,
with marvellous resource, only the SUI
perhuous harmonies in the accom-
paniment. He sketched from nature
in water colors putting in the sky
with a circular movement Of the fore
finger, and bestowing a painful at
tention ON unnecessary detail. He
wrote obscurer poetry than Brown
ing. and was much addicted to finding
meanings in unintelligible passages
of minor poets that nobody else
pretended to understand
Can any person wonder that Jacks
wife looked upon him as a genius
and felt every day more grateful tc
the fate that had linked her to the
destiny of so noble a specimen OF
mankind
OF Clara little need be said, except
that she was pretty when he mar
ried her, and her Uniformed charac
ter was captivatingly feminine ant
moldable' Such traits are the para
disc of the selfish man, and Jack was
not mistaken-from his egotisti'
point of view-in believing that h,
had secured n treasure. Everything
that could make home life attraetiv,
was combined in Clara's lovable quail
ties and quiet domesticity. In tn,
winter, when Jack came home colC
and tired from the city routine, 1
CHEEKY wife was sitting waiting fol
/ him by the tea table, the kettle sim
mering on the hob, ready to max,
tea the minute he should appear
and down beside the freside a warn
pair of slippers rested against tn,
fender.
Them blush to write it-Jacl
would fling himself down into tn,
armchair that had been drawn NJ
for him close to the blaze, while tn
adoring little woman went down oi
her knees and undid the laces of hi
boots. If he was in good temper h
patted her fluffy head with amiabl
condescension, but if he happened t.
be out of humor he flung his foot a
her in surly silence, or growled a
the world in general, and her clum
siness in particular, all the time tha
she was performing that humble OF
fee for him.
Jack belonged, in fact, to the typ
that men of finer material long t.
kick, but which, for some inexplicabl
reason, possesses an enduring fasci
nation for the class of women VIII
are least capable of defending them
selves against masculine mastery.
Judging by appearances, fiv
years Of welded bliss had not treate
Clara so well as her husband. He
face had lost much of its girlis
roundness, and the deep blue eye
that were her chief beauty burne
feverishly rather than brightly
within the dark rings that encircle
them. Her chest had become del
cate ever since the day Jack ha
kept her waiting in the cold outsid
his office for half an hour Che did nc
like receiving ladies within the So
cred precincts) on tho occasion q
- her keeping an appointment to NEE
him there at a fixed time, in orde
that they might proceed to som
social function together.
The result was a chronic cough tina
Is irritated Jack a good deal at nigh
% and a heavy doctors bill, at which
. svore so tremendously that sh
l. screwed the money out of her hous,
9 keeping allowance, and began to pa
le OFF the debt by installments. Late
on. however, Jack found it out, an
L nearly frightened the poor little w,
man ont of her wits by the wrathfl
r manner in which he scribbled th
check for the balance, and threw
at her with some ungracious remarl
u about her intelligence.
u One evening the Alstons went
a an "at home" Social obligation
soon parted husband and wife in II
crowded drawing-room, but the Ia
4 ter's affectionate eyes oanght man
D. eiimpses Of Jack as he paased to an
! fro. greeting new friends and ma
= ing new acquaintance.
II sased His Leg
p. A Danforth Of LaGrange, Ga