The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1910-06-30
copyrighted by Short Stories CO., Ltd)
Prof. Max wiegand to Doctor Gustav

KNASO yONs a hofO SCpaAoSCu IiOLh III
wife, or rather We have separated
from each other. We have come to an
amicable agreement ~henceforth to live
entirely Independent of each other.
My wife has gone to her family In
Freiburg, where she will no doubt re.
main. / am for the present In our
old house; perhaps In the spring /
may look for a smaller house
perhaps not, for / can hardly hope to
lind 30 quiet a workroom as now
have, and the idea of moving appals
me, especially when l think of my
large library. You will, of course,
want to know what has happened,
though. TO tell the truth. nothing has
happened.
My wife and I are too unlike. Be-
tween her views Of life and mine
there yawns an impossible gulf. The
frst few years | hoped to influence
her, to win her to my ways of think
mg-she seemed so docile, SO yielding.
took so warm an interest In my work,
30 willingly allowed herself to be
taught by me. Not till after our chill.
dren's death did she begin to change.
Her grief at this loss-a grief which
neither OF US has ever been able TO
live down - matured her :.
made her Independent Of me. A ten
dency to morbid introspection took
possession of her and gave increased
tenacity to those ideas and convic-
lions which my influence had hitherto
held In check, though not wholly
eradicated. She plunged deeper and
deeper into those mists OF senti-
mentally fantastic imaginings, pas
Bionately demanding my concurrence
In her views. She lost all interest In
my professional work, evidently re-
garding the results OF my researches
In natural science as troops from an
enemy's camp. At last there was
hardly a subject In the wide realm of
nature and human existence on which
we agreed. To be sure we never
came to an open quarrel, but the
breach between us a constantly
widening. Every day we saw more
and more plainly that though we lived
side by side, we no longer belonged
to each other. This discovery irritated
and distressed us, and at last forced
all other feelings into the back
ground. If we had not once loved each
other so dearly, or even IL we had
now ceased to feel a mutual respect
this state of affairs might perhaps
have lasted for years, but our ideas
OF the true meaning of marriage were
tool lofty, our sense of our own dignity
rs human beings too profound to per-
NIT us to be content with so incom-
plete a realization Of our ideals. |
hardly know who spoke first, but our
resolution al at once taken and the
decisive words uttered as calmly and
naturally as the overripe fruit falls
from the tree. For the first time In
many years we were able with perfect
unanimity of sentiment to discuss a
subject of the greatest Importance to
US both, and this fact alone soothed
our overweight nerves. We parted
yesterday with the utmost decorum,
without a word of reproach, a note of
discord. Memories of our early mar
ried life, OF the long years we had
lived together made it difficult to re-
frain from some manifestation of ten
derness. and | assure you that | never
felt greater respect for my wife han
at he moment when. all petty con-
siderations cast aside, the true mag
nanimity of her nature asserted itself.
Prof Nav NNfOonnA 20 IT. r,,.tnxv
Strauch. Berlin. December II.
Dear Gustav: Pardon me that have
so long delayed thanking you for your
answer of friendly sympathy to my
last letter.
/ have been in no condition to write.
and even now find 1t difficult. You
congratulate me without reserve on
a step which you regard as essential
to my welfare and to my intellectual
development, but you do o take into
consideration what it means to sep
arate from n who has for IL years
been ones constant companion. day
and night. Indeed, 1t is only during
these last dreary weeks that /, my
self, have realized what the change
slgnlnes TO me. Habit Is all powerful,
especially with men who, like you and
me, live in the intellectual world and
30 require a solid substructure.
How are we to take observations
from the tower battlements when its
FOUNDATIONS are not firmly estab-
lished? OF course. / am as certain as
ever | was that our decision is for the
best interests OF us both, but in this
queer world of ours we can take no
STEP without unlocked for results.
.s<
with trifies to which | have never Civ
en- a thought since my bachelor days
/. . things which | will not men,
tion, so absurdly Insignificant are
they . and yet they rob me of
my time and destroy my peace. am
ut a less what steps to take to rid
myself az the thousand petty cares
and a~nnoyances which my wife has
hitherto borne for me. These serv-
ants! Now that the cat is away they
XM