The Washington herald., 1914-06-20
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The Memory.
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five in her heart when-The Man came
home to her one night, long past mid
night, in a bestial state OF intoxication,
and was most abusive in his language
to The Girl
The following day she would not ac-
cept his apology, and when she told him
that he had shattered her ideal he flew
into temper and said that no man
could live up to her standard on this
mundane sphere of ours, and asked her
sbrltally what she was going to do
about it.
Her Answer
The Girl was silent for a long while
Then she left the room. When she re-
turned she carried in her hand a soft.
,nowy-white garment,-the smallest gar
ment The Man had ever seen in his life.
She laid it out tenderly on the table
before him. and he knew that she had
answered his question. He gathered
her into his arms. swore that he had
been all sorts of brute. and that she
would never have reason to complain OF
his treatment again. ~
But the character of The Man had not
been formed in day, or week, or
month, or even in a year, and so 1t was
that the traits he had acquired were not
so easy as he had supposed to alter.
He tried with what strength of will he
had. but he did not succeed, and SO it
was that his faults grew in seriousness
with the years, and The Girl lived with
him only because of the little human tie
which bound. She told herself that it
was her duty to her son to keep their
home together. But she did not try to
deceive herself, She knew The Man
for what he was. She knew his dis
gushing weaknesses. and they were so
many that they quite submerged his
good qualities.
He made her life very hard.-so hard,
believed him to be her ideal; forgot the
far-away summer when she had called
him so big and splendid" and she Won
dered If il was best for the little son
that he should have the influence of his
father in his life. and even while she
wondered The Man met with an acci-
dent, and his friends brought him home
to her,-dead.
Because she had been proud and loyal
The Girl had never talked of her tragic
life, and so it was, when the funeral
was over, that her desk was piled high
with letters referring to her ideal mar
rage" and expressing the sympathy
which the writers felt for her in her
bereavement. ...
At. first The Girl was stunned over
what had happened. She put the letters
all away and gave herself up to grief.
She was PROSTATE with sorrow which
the world believed was for the loss of
The Man, but this was not true. The
suffering of The Girl was more poignant
still, for she told herself that she did
not bring out The Mans good qualities
while he lived; that she had been too
eager to see his faults. and too prone to
neglect his virtues. Little by little she
began to minimize the former and to
the latter, until, after awhile,
she skipped all the years of their mar
riage in which The Man had been brutal
to her, and remembered only the moon |
kissed time of their courtship, when she |
had declared him so big and splendid"
and had wondered why God had singled
her out for the blessing of his love.
And when the son reached manhood
he thought of his father with love and |
reverence because of the teaching of his |
mother,