Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1907-08-01
Lady button's Mard
BY BERTHA N. CLAY.


egotistical mean and false. AS much
as he could love anything, he loved
the fair, sweet young wife, whose lov-
ling worship never abated, even when
poverty and want pressed sorely upon
them; and though he cursed her in a
passionate moment for being a tie
upon him, yet he was always to her a
king amongst men. But her dream of
happiness was soon ended. She never
saw Stephen Hurst as he really was.
but she had seen enough to perceive
there was no hope of peaceful or
happy life with him. In her sweet.
womanly, gentle way she tried to re-
monstrate with him, to persuade him
to think of better and higher things,
to teach him some of the sweet and
holy lessons she had learnt in the lit.
tie church by Brynmar woods. But
he laughed her to scorn. When in
good humor, he contented himself with
ridicuiing everything good and pure;
when angry, he would pour out a food
of blasphemous ideas and words that
frightened the gentle girl, who had
been taught to reverence all that he
scoffed and sneered at.
1t was some time before she dis
! covered that he had no source of in
come, save what he derived from
gambling and betting. 1t was a bit
ter sorrow to her. She implored him
to try some honest method of living;
she offered to work for him; but he
cnly laughed at her ideas, and told
her, when he could afford it, he should
open a gambling saloon at home.
Before long he did so, and then the
real torture of her life began for Mag
dalen Hurst. The change was cruel,
from the bonnie woods of Brynmar,
from flowers and trees, from the
happy, peaceful cottage life, to the
narrow street, and the close, sitting
rooms of the little house. When the
hot gas was all lighted, and no sound
could be heard save the rafting of
dice and the angry murmurs of excited
men, she would sit and dream of the
home she had left, of the evening sky
with its pale cleaning stars, of the
night wind whispering amidst the
trees, of the sleeping flowers and
birds, of the little brook that sang all
night, and of the beautiful hush and
calm that fell upon the woods.-that
scene SO different in its beauty and
purity from this.
! Still, her love never abated, never
wearied or grew less; she hoped
against hope. But a greater trial
was coming. Stephen Hurst seemed
all at once to lose his good luck. He
never touched card without losing;
he grew moody and irritable, then
desperate, and in an evil hour he fell
into the lowest depths. He forged the
name of young nobieman who had
frequently played at his house. The
forgery succeeded, and the sum of
money he obtained was large one;
but, as invariably happens, detection
followed the crime closely. He was
watched, arrested, and tried The gay,
dashing Stephen Hurst, who had pur-
posely thrown of all principle, and
hated all restraint, found himself now
prisoner for one of those crimes
which the law Furnishes most severely
Then. when the world justly fell
from him, when good and bad locked
alike with adherence upon him, he
learned the value of wife's love.
Magdalen Hurst chung to him still
Others might believe him guilty-he
might be condemned, and punished-it
made no difference to her. He was
her king, though fallen one. Woman
like, she loved him even more tender
ly and truly in his adversely than she
had done in his prosperity. Others
blamed him; she knew how he had
been tempted. She made a hundred
| excuses for him, even while she de.
plored his crime. When the day of
his trial came, men gazed with won
der on the beautiful white face. SO
full of anguish and despair Her eyes
never left him., and her lips quivered
with every word that told against him.
When the sentence of ten years trans
portation was given, one long low cry
never forgotten by those who heard
lit, rang through the court, and Mag
dalen Hurst fell as one dead.
Something like sharp CULVER of
pain passed over Stephen Hurst's face
as he saw This; but even the heavy
sentence had not power to quell his
light. trifiing, thoughtless spirit He
bowed almost gaily to Judge and jury.
and left the dock utterly unmoved.
He could not even understand the
light in which Magdalen viewed his
crime. To him 1T was a piece of
"unheard-of bad luck, an 'ill turn
of the tide, "a misfortune" but he
never called it sin or an error. He
thought her notions narrow and
bigoted What could such a man. ut
terly devoid of all honor, understand
OF a religious, loving sensitive nature
| like Magdalen's?