Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1906-03-16

and returned loan of 500 which
had been obliged to ask from a fel.
lew clerk in the office. The remainder
something like SIS. turned over to
my wife for some new household fur
nishings which she declared We must
have.
! l was bound to get into debt. There
was no other way out of it. The end
OF the next year found me. away be-
hind. and l had made practically no
progress in my own dearly beloved vo.
cation. My home had ceased to be a
meme. Notwithstanding the fact that
my wife had blossomed out into far
lovelier woman than ever She now
belonged to three clubs and was an
officer in two of them. l had borrow
ed some money from my brother-an-
other s50o-and | was in debt every
where. The baby was very i'll for 10
days with Group and it was only by a
miracle that we succeeded in saving
mis- life. Ny wife was at her club when
he was taken ill., and when l returned
from work at o'clock without any din
ncl I found the ignorant servant girl
pounding it on the back. My wife had
not returned and the baby was chok-
ing.
When she returned an hour later,
after the physician had come and
cone, we had our first bitter words
Up to that hour I had never said a
word of reproach. | had frequently
tried to reason gently with her, but
she had always won out by her per-
suasiveness. And then | was very
/ proud Of her success, and | wanted to
see her realize her ambitions But
when il came to neglecting the life
Of the child I lost my patience.
We did not speak for many weeks
after that night, and never after that
diU our relationship seem the same
A few months later our second baby
came, little girl.
| | was then so hopelessly involved.
! having borrowed money right and left.
! ana conscious of the fact that | was
making a failure of my own chosen
work and not giving entire satisfac-
ton to my employers. that all that
was needed was the slightest spark to
| set the whole structure of our marriage
into blazing ruin. The end came
sooner than I expected.
II the first baby had made NV wife
capricious and eXorbitantly ambitious.
the second child had an even more dis.
astrOus effect. She was chatting under
the restraint which the care of the new
baby put upon her and which she could
not possibly obviate.We had months
OF pickering. | tried 10 reason with
hen and she resented my reasoning
wen more than she did my anger
began TO grow as nervous as a woman.
could not sleep nights. | had wor.
ries at the office. which | tried to
explain to her, but which she. pooI
Girl. either could not or would not un
/, derstand. | began to drink for the first
time in my life and after a while
began to stay away from home nights
! neglected my work.
This state of things Went on for
SIX months and | gradually went from
bad 70 worse. always getting deeper in
; debt and growing more nervous and
disposed to forget things in the drink
On whisky One day rude shock
thought me to my senses. for a briet
spell at least. The firm | was with
and which | had become so proud tC
become identified with, notified me
that they expected to make some
changes in the personnel of their Of
flee force and that | would not be
needed at the end of the month II
was more politely put than this. but
that was what il amounted to.
Wen, to my wife and told her all
She upbraided me bitterly. I loked
for another opening, looked every
where but the expiration of my month
OF grace found me down and out"
was. vulsarly speaking. "A man look
ing for a job" MY wife overwhelmed
me With reproaches, she blamed me
for spelling the lives of herself and
the children. She said l did not keeI
my eye out for the main chance. She
bitterly resented the fact that | has
tried to the utmost to live up to the
Rest ideals of my chosen work.
, All that happened in the morning al
the breakfast table | mad succeeded
IN raising a loan of $50 the day befor,
I 10 tide me over the week. gave hel
S all of it and walked ont of the house
r rcnniless. | heard the baby crying il
:. the adjoining bedroom and my little
t boy was pounding his plate with hi.
d Spon. | did not wait to kiss eithe
s o. them I was too angry. replied
n with a thrust infinitely more bite
d than hers had been. What | said car
e not be repeated here but 1t wen
l. home 1t is the one thing. the sol,
|, single thing that | would leave I'm
b done in all the tragedy of my married
t life-that last parting shot at tn
1t mother of my children. Then put m
V hat on the back of my head Wake,
It out and slammed the door.
o l need not dwell upon the thre