The daily Alaskan., 1912-10-30
A FAMILY AFFAIR
By OLIVE EDNA NAY

When Macgregor Jones married he gave up Julia Brant, woman to whom be had been for a long while devoted. for his wife Why be pre- ferted the mttet did oO, appear. Eos. sibly be might have thought that she would cd the v'hols make hlm better wife. Those yvho knew him believed that he would rather have married Clementine Brooks, but that there were certain objections in the way Of his doing SO. Miss Brant was mer- ", devr-mRy-care creature, without any predisposltOn to economy, and would not have made a good manager There were other reasons why Jones might have dseiaed against her, but whether they influenced him or not nobody but himself know&
 Jones insisted on retaining his inti- macy with his old flame His wife objected. but Jones would not give up Miss Brant. though be simply retain ed her as friend. And there was no suspicion on the part of those who knew him best that he acted toward her as anything more than a friend. But naturally his wife was not satis- hed. She consented to receive Miss Brant at her home, but never display ed any c0rdislity toward her.
 One day Jones came home from busi- ness much earlier than usual and found a gentleman making an afternoon call on his wife. Jones bowed to the visi- tor coolly and passed on upstairs At CT the man had gone Jones asked who he was. Mrs. Jones informed him that her visitors name was SteRdman and was a very old and very dear friend of hers. Then Jones remembered that some one had In his presence twltted his wife about a man named Stead man, and he grew very Jealous.
 "what do you mean by receiving this old lover of yours during my sb- sencey- he asked.
 "what do you mean by keeping up your intimacy with Julia Brant after our marriageT
 "Julia Brant and I are old friends"
 "Henry steadman and ! are older friends than you and Julia"
 Jones saw the point "I presume you intend" he said. 'to use this man Steadman to separate me from my friend. JealOusy-absurd jealOusy-has separated more couples than any other cause
 "Then don't ba jealous of me"
 Jones went away grumbllng, but he had sense enough to sec that bis wife had as much right tO keep up her inti- macy with stsadmSn ss he had Co keep up his intimacy with Miss Brant But he did not intend to be forced away from his friend In this way. He ar gued that be was conducting himself with perfect propriety toward her-in- deed. that he had no desire Co conduct Himself toward her in any other way. His wife should take his word for this and not try to break up a friendship of long standing on account Of her sus- piclon, Co which Mrs. Jones replied that there was no more reason for her breaking on her relations with Stead man than for Jones Co break with Julia.
 Finally Jones, who was perfectly sat isfied with his wife and really had only a friendly interest iR Miss BrRnt as- sured the former that the only reason he had for not breaking with her was that he didn't like to do so without giving the true reason, which was that his wife was jealous of her, to which Mrs. Joues replied that there was no necessity of his giving reason All he had Go do was to drop Miss Brant Be asked his wife if in that event she intended to drop Steadmsn. and she re- piled that since she considered that a wife should receive 10 man her bus band objected to she certainly would in that event give MT Steadman notice to discontinue his calls.
 Jones couldnE make up hls mind to break with Mss Brant--not that her friendship was necessary to his com fort, but because be did not Ike te treat a woman friend hsrshly. And how could he discontinue his visits to her and cease to Invite her to his home without indicating that it meant a break betweeu themi Nevertheless Mrs. Jones insisted on accepting the st- tentions Of StesdnIRn as bong Hs Jones continued oh friendly tefms with Miss Brant, and If be was ever to be reliev- ed of the occasional presence of a man he hated be must give in. He did SO. The next time Miss Brant came to the house he remained in his room, and he never called on her again.
 Mir. Steadman did not again appear at the Jones home, and both bones of contention were removed. Children were born to the JOneses. and a united family was the result.
 Mrs. Jones died after the children were an grown and most of them had been married. At last MT Jones was left alone. He had only the memory Of hls life companion, and the more he thought over her many good traits the more he revered her. One day he set about destroying the letters she had teceived and kept. thinking it best