El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-07-22

Z UNE S.-The following letter came
in the mail this morning. I sup
pose I should tear it up or burn it.
But man doesn't follow the precedent
established by fiction.
will paste it in your friendly pages,
Diary. 1t may be viewed in the light
Of an extenuating circumstance when
the future has made complete revela-
ton of my folly.
1t is dated 10 days ago. Evidently
Josephine, Tor it is from her, deliber-
ated long before sending it:
My Dear Maxi am fully aware that
the sight Of my handwriting is DIS
tasteful to you. am also aware that
it will be more distasteful when YOU
have read this letter. For in it
intend to tell you many things which
1t will be for your good to know.
Being a man, your greatest and pre-
vailing characteristic is conceit. You
are so blinded by it that not once in
| this unfortunate affairs of ours have
I you put any blame on yourself
You have laid it on my shoulders
And yet you are old enough to be my
father You have taken much credit
to yourself for your greater wisdom.
You do not know that this wisdom is
not due to your brain. 1t is due to
what the difference in years has taught
you. OF this you may be sure: When
am twice my present age I will be as
much wiser.
But were you as wise at 20 as u
doubt 1t. 1 know what was the best
for me. 1t was to win you for a hus-
band When you were 20 you did not
know what was best for you. If you
had known, you would have married
Mary Playter! She loved you, and
you loved her But you thought best
to make a fortune first. Though there
was no tacit understanding she was
waiting for you.
And you thought with a great COM
placency that she would make a SEN
sible wife, and congratulated yourself
on your good sense in choosing her
But that was many years ago. As
you grew older and accumulated money
she grew older also and palmer in
your money-tainted eyes. You began
to think she was too old for you. Too
stald, too sedate, and not snowy
enough. You wanted wife who would
look well on parade. You wanted
young wife. believing your wealth en-
titled you to that as it entitled you TO
the handsomest furniture and the fin
est horses.
Then You Met Me.
When in this mood you met me. If
you had any fault to find with me it
was that 1 was more than Is. In your
eyes every year on woman's shoul-
ders is fault, and every year on the
shoulders of a man is another virtue.
L won you by being a hypocrite. I lost
you by telling the truth
claimed to be a mistress of every
domestic art because you prattIed your
admiration for the hOusewifely woman
I represented myself to be a devoted
daughter to meet your demands that
girl be a slave to her household.
practiced every deceit, every hypocrisy
with the end in view of winning you.
And I wont
And all the time you were priding
yourself on your marvellous insight
into human nature. NO woman" you
said many times during our courtship,
could fool me-"
And I would cudd1e up close to you
| and say, That's so. dear Max" and
all the time I was fooling you in a
| manner apparent to every one in the
world but you,
Your friends didn't like me because
they knew what a hypOcrite I was.
They had a discernment you lacked.
yet all the time you were holding your
own judgment above theirs.
You were a tempting prize. which is
my only excuse for my deceit But 1
claim it is a better excuse than that
which you can offer I was willing to
sell myself for your wealth. You were
willing to buy.
Who is the more guilty? Is it not
| the one who, being older, should be
Wiser2 Is a daughter expected to be
as wise a s her father And YOU were
old enough to fill that relation to me
You refused to let me have the good
time my inclinations demanded with