Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-07-31
DAILY SH0RT sT0RY
A REALISTIC PICTURE.
COriginaL1

with nothing more serious between us
| than a few lovers spats, and now that
we were united for life we had made
| the discovery that we were incOm-
patible. / saw in store for us a series
| of outbursts lasting through lifetime.
l FASTENED TO my friend Merriam-a
singular friend for u man of twenty
five. since he was seventy-to pour my
trouble in his ear.
What is it, Billy?' he asked sym
pathetically.
we have quarreled," 1 replied, al
most in tears.
Well he said, with a smile. did
you expect to so through life billing
and cooing:"
NO. but / have always been used
after quarrel with any friend to be
the first TO offer my hand and make it
all up. / would have despised the man
who would refuse to meet me half
way"
THE man. yes, but did you always
meet with such response from wo-
man."
81 never had such quarrels with
women. was not sufficiently init
mate with any of them"
''Ah. there's the difference 4 man
never becomes as intimate. with anoth-
er man as with a woman Besides.
woman is not a man. Sit down. light
your pipe, and I'll tell you what have
never cOnfided 10 any one before.
MY marriage, like yours, was love
match. l had had Il great many men
friends and one man chum. The night
after our return from our wedding trip
l took up my hat to go out Where
are you going" asked my wife I'm
going round to Tom Noyes' for a few
minutes just to say How d'you do:"
after my absence And you expect me
TO spend the evening here alone on the
first night after our return? If Tom is
TO take you so early, what will be the
result after you have begun to get tired
of me| L didn't suppose marriage
meant giving up my best friend But
what need to give a dialogue that led
up TO 4 violent quarrel?
1t was very plain TO me that if l
had tried to find the most unreasonable
woman in the world l could not have
better succeeded At first after our
quarreIs we made u great ado about
mo hiilS UP DAi pAClAy SOOIi w SllhtAI
after the paroXysms, growing less and
less sulky every hour till tranquility
was restored. At times 1 would apollo
gize for what l had done and occasion
ally for what l had not done. but after
awhile / discovered that the best way
was to ignore the causes of our difficult
ties entirely. They were all shocks re
sulting from the efforts of two currents
to blend.
Il did not spring from the grub bach
elor into the butterfly married man.
1t took Il long while to change me. As
the years went by / let go more and
more my bachelor instincts and devel-
oped those of Al husband and father.
\ new world was growing into exist
ence for me- For time ] did not re-
aiize how fully l had become part of
ii, and at times cast longing eyes back
to my bachelor independence. But the
day came at last when 1 looked upon
my bachelorhood as an undeveloped ex-
istence in which the heart had no part
and my own sweet VIII was the current
in which 1 drifted aimlessly.
Then came children TO live and chill
dren to lose. Each child was like
tender shoot springing from my heart.
Those who passed from us are as dear
today as those who lived. In the fam
lily, with all its cares, its responsible
ties. its griefs, we found the only hap
piness that never died.
And now that those of our children
who have lived have left us TO form
their own worlds we are alone to-
gethcr, as we were when the current
Of our lives first met and mingled.
Do you suppose we never quarrel? If
you do. you are mistaken. But we
know that our quarrels are a part OF
our imperfect natures, and we accept
them as we accept our other Ills. Thus
we do not magnify the evil they do,
which is IN itself insignificant"
Frank" called a sharp, querulous
voice from another room, ARE you go
ing TO talk all day."
What do you want, dear:"
You know very we'll that l have
been wanting 10 speak TO you about
something of importance for half an
hour"
III be with YOU in 2 moment. Don't
get into i stew about nothing"
l pressed the old mans hand and
Withdrew. II seemed to- me that in his
brief story and the bit Of sequel con
tained in the few words | had heard
he had given me picture Of what my
life would likely be The romances 1 |
had read OF the happy period Of young
love, the beautiful drifting together OF
two souls. gradual decline without |
chatting. all seemed to me to be incom- |
patible with our imperfect natures !
Beautiful examples there doubtless are.
but when consciousness of my own |
imperfections doomed up before me l |
had no hope that mine would be one |
of Them. Going home, found my /
newly welded wife and said to her:
Lucy, have just been talking with |
my old friend Mr. Merriam. and he |
has said things that expect are true /
What did he sayT'