The Washington herald., 1914-02-08

And thu. 4, vas for the sake NJ q
rainy dsy somevhere in the uncertain
future The Man and The Girl began
their life nartnershIp with seIf-denial.
and he felt n sense Of pride IN the com
fort.hle iittle sum he added to his saw
ings account, for success in life he
speI,e6 with dollar marks. and he was
mighty determined To make them grow,
| 49,,
|
1t was several months after the we'd
| ding that The Wife reminded The Man
\ OF many parties which her friends had
given in her honor prior to her marriage
and suggested that II was high time she
returned few of the courtesies.
| to give a little reception and invite all
the friends at once. but The Wife pointed
| out to him that this was Impossible: that
they belonged to different sets There
was her bridge club, for Instance. She
would like to entertain the club at a
luncheon alone Then there was Amy
Ramsdell who had given such a delight
| full party in honor Of her approaching
| wedding, and now Amy was to be mar
ried, and Of course The Wife would have
to return the courtesy. Then. too. The
wife's Maid OF Honor had a visiting
guest who should be entertained proper
ly The Man listened attentively, and
when his young bride was all through he
made himself quite comfortable for a
mice, sensible little talk"
He was sure Of her good Judgment and
sympathy in all the interests of his bust
ness, and he didn't think IL a wise thing
at all for young married folk to begin
life with lavish entertainment. The trou-
BILE. he said. with the present generation
is that II wants TO begin at the top where
our fahers leave Off instead of being will
ing to start on the ground floor and build
up from a secure foundation He had
learned to love her because she was
"such a practIcal sort" as she had
proven by agreeing with him about post
poninR the wedding journey until a later
wear when thew should be better estab-
lished financially,
He was very sweet and sympathetic
about Il all. and told his bride that he
wished he were a rich man and able TO
splurge a BIT on the start, whereupon she
said that IL didn't really matter.
But down in the heart Of her. where
The Mans eve, could not follow H. mat
tered very much indeed. The wife wa.
Young and life seemed a CAV enough
thing to her. She wanted pretty clothes.
the pleasure OF inviting her friends to
little parties of her own. now that she
had such a pretty home and she nut n
all aside with that same sense of bitter
loss she had felt when they had decided
not to take the wedding tourney.
The Man and His Wife had turned
their faces toward the sunset OF life be-
fore their wedding journey was spoken
Of again. The children were all grown
and either had homes Of their own or
were earning their own living else
where. SO The Man said n was high
time to enjoy life a bit. They had
worked hard together and made a sue
cess of this thing of living, he told The
Wife. and now they had nothing to fear
where finances were concerned and could
take their ease. They would go on their
honeymoon-take a trip to Europe II she
liked-do more in the way of entertain
ing and begin at last to live
The Wife patted his hand gently, and
gave him that slow. sweet smile that was
the gift of many years of patient work
for him and the children whom God had
given him, but she shook her head slow
". They were more comfortable at
home, she said. and that II had been so
many. many years since she had tray
eIed that she would not care to 20. And
as for the entertainment. well il was
nice to have a few friends for dinner
once in a while but IL meant a great
deal of effort to give big parties, and be-
sides she wa. ali out OF a social life.
and would feel awkward and i'll at ease
to have a house full OF guests at this
late fay.
There WAS no bitterness in her voice
hut there was n note Of regret which
carried The Man back to that far day
now nearly forty wears ago when he had
asked his bride to postpoue their honey
moon tourney until a later wear and
AGAIN when her sweet ewes were misty
while she brayeIy fought the tears of dis
when he denied the wish of
her Young heart To entertain her friends
and all at once he knew that the years
Of Youth are the only wears in which II |
comes 10 ono 10 take from life enough of
pave,v and innocent iov To tint nemo-
rios ro.e-pirk when after forty wear.