Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1904-11-10
ce,yrieh. 1901 by
I. Fitzgerald Ma,loy

Before her eighteenth birthday. she
had married him against the advice of
her mother, and i'll spite of the warning
of her friends, endowing him who was
dependent on his pay and stepped In
debt with The handsome fortune left
her by her father. Then came three
years of welded life of varying happi-
/ ness, at the end of which time the
ardor on her part<1'emained undated,
while on his 1t had vanished quite.
His growing Indifference made her
woman-like, more anxious to retain his
affection, while her eagerness defeated
Its own ends by rendering him more
careless still. Satisfied now if She
might retain his friendship IL not his
love, she eNerted her wit, tact and fas
wounding it in the straining and all
in vain. And now she began to realize
how she had In the funess of her girl
ish love, localized him; seeing him as
no other had endowing him with at
tributes of heart and character he had
never possessed; for no longer did he
take pains to conceal the hardness.
seltishness and lack of honor. which Il
brilliant surface manner had once
helped to hide.
Her disillusion once begun. was
quickly completed. Soon came the
losses on the race course and at the
gaming table, as we'll as the perception
that his nature was gradually coarscn-
Ing by drink and dissipation. The day
was not long postponed when she
learned her whole fortune had been
| squandered by him in ways that We're
wrongs to her. And when, no longer
able to preserve patience, she upbraid-
ed him. he brutality struck her. by
this time he had quilted the army, and
disappointing he left her and her child
depending on friends, her mother being
now dead
Then began her struggle for life, Bit
ter and long maintained. She had all
ways possessed q certain talent for
writing. q facility of expression, pic
turesqueness of description. power of
Imagination. and having before her eX-
amples of those who had Won indepen-
dence by the art of fiction seemingly
with ease and without effort, and being
all unconscious Of the numbers who
yearly perish in the hard struggle to
gain the shores OF success, and are
therefore unlleard of and unknown,
| she resolved to embrace literature as
a calling. To pen short stories for
children, biographical sketches and
articles on subjects of the day. was TO
one endowed With her gifts but the
least part of the difficulty before her
To dispose of them became an arduous
TASK, Tor no one desired TO read, much
| less to accept them.
Many a mile she walked from office
to office, which, with a iluttering heart
and overstrung nerves she entered to
offer manuscripts over which she had
spent much time, always hoping she
might find acceptance. Money was ter
ribly needed by her. The result was
ever the same. Each magazine or
| journal had its own staff of contrib
uto.s; hundreds of stories We're waiting
| for consideration. The supply was
greater than could be exhausted for
years. And such manuscripts as she
was permitted to leave, or which she
mislaid. invariably returned to her, UNI
til her spirit was well-nigh broken.
| A turn came in the tide OF her at
! fairs when they seemed desperate. A
tale retained by a magazine for over
twelve months at last saw the light
truth to nature, pathos, and originality
of plot. A second story was accepted
| by the same magazine, and an editor
who had returned her stories and es-
avs unread requested her to send him
some articles Those he had previous
| ly rejected were posted to him and
| paid for within a week.
| Slowly and gradually her name be-
gan to grow familiar to the public; with
appreciation came courage to perseyere,
and putting forth all her strength, she
wrote a novel, largely cmbodying in
Its pages, her own life. This had been.
published by George Bostocll. Its
success was immediate, her name be-
came famous independence was won.
| Al now while lifted out of the
stem, and stress of life and beginning
| to hask i'm the sunshine of hard earned
success, her husband. after years of alb
sence returned to claim the benefit of
her changed fortunes; returned a worm
out wreck, a hardened adveilturer. a
confirmed rogue. For her own sake,
and for the sake of her child, she pro-
| tected herself against him. and sue
coed in buying for considerable sum,
| his consent TO legal separation, which
she could otherwise have obtained had
she brought the incidents of her life
| into court. And for five years she
heard Of him no more, until at the
| period the story opens, she received a
demand for money to which she paid
! no heed, nor had she seen him means
while until that terrible night-his
| last on earth.
| The CHASTITY horror of that scene
came back to her afresh with all it's
terrible possibilities for her future and
her heart sank. weighted by despair
within her. For moment it seemed
she had no courage to meet the appal-
| ling accusation which would be brought
| against her; no strength to assert her
innocence until the memory of her
child came to her. Then from the
depths of her stricken soul, she prayed
for aid that she might meet this dark
misfortune; that her innocence should
be made plain to the world.
| When breakfast was brought, she
drank some coffee, but could not eat:
nor did she talk. her mind was now
busy with plans, surmises, possibili-
| ties, fears.
At last Veronica said:
| There is some one waiting to see
Who" Olive Dumbarton said fear
| fully.
MIR. Bostock"
A sense of intense relief came to the
miserable woman at the sound of that
name, and she suddenly realized that
she was not quite alone in life. AL
ways a faithful friend and a wise coun-
sellor, he would help her.
How kind of him. Has he been
| long waiting?"
About an hour. did not like to
tell you before. 1 don't think you are
strong enough to see him, dearest"
| Il must, Veronica: he will advise
me-"
Then let him come TO your dressing
room, the girl suggested.
| Very we'll, DEAR
| Only when she strove to RISE the full
knowledge of her physical weakness
came to her. but this she overcame
with an effort, and presently entered
| the adjoining apartment, which was
room The blinds We're up; the mid
| day sun streamed through the windows,
and in the apple and peach trees still
| in Leaf the birds We're singing blithely,
| the sky was cloudless All things APP
peared to mock at the woe within her.
Il