Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-01-22

OHt u lWtut5y uuu WHcn du OAutE udu
gave way TO a woman it was to be
assumed that he would keep up his
difference in the married state.
ut is singular" said Mrs. Jones,
how our cases agree. /, too, have
met just such a nan as you describe
not One of those men whose Difference
is accompanied by a flourish that re-
veals its insincerity, but there is some
thing genuine that speaks for itself.
You have asked me, dear, If 1 will
marry again in case | get my divorce.
| will make one exception among all
the men of the world. If the one 1
speak of should ask me l will not say
that l would refuse him."
Upon this confession Mrs. Smith let
out a little more that she had not yet
revealed. She confessed that her own
particular friend had dared TO make
love to her before her separation and
that she had repealed him, ~whereupon
he seemed broken hearted. II her pres
ent bonds were severed and she could
listen to this other love without shame
she was not sure but that she might
yield.
Beyond this the confidence did not
extend. Perhaps had the ladies been
a dozen years younger each might have
told the other the name and home of
her admirer and as much else about
him as she could call up. But at thir-
ty-two one is not so confidential as at
twenty. Besides, there was a special
reason why neither cared to tell too
much. Each of these men, so deferen-
tial to the wishes of the woman he
admired, had a wife of whom he was
trying to get rid, or, if this is stating
the case too strongly, his wife was try
ing to get rid of him.
There was one comfort in this heart
matter which pertained to both of
these ladies. Neither had any children.
There were no innocents to be wrung
by parental infelicities. The law be-
ing elastic, each was on the way to
prove that she had married a bad man
and had been made unhappy and she
would be able to marry a good man,
who would be a blessing to her. What
waste become of these two unworthy
men neither wife considered.
1t is a long road thatxhas 40 end,
and both these ladies at last found
themselves free from one matrimonial
yoke and delighted at the prospect of
taking on another. Mrs. Smiths resi-
dence in the west became unneces-
sary a month earlier than Mrs. Jones',
and she departed for the east. BY this
time the bosom friendship of their
younger days had blossomed again,
and each had admitted to the other
that as soon as the knot was united
she proposed to have a clergyman-if
one could be found-to tie another one.
Before Mrs. Smiths departure it had
been agreed between the two that she
should wait for her friend and that
they should be married at the same
time.
During the next months separation
letters passed between them, Mrs.
Smith writing of the subsection of her
fiance to her slightest within and Mrs.
Jones chatting under the delay in her
W coming to- the same happiness.
And it is worthy of mention that the
two men who were casting off their
partners to step into a blessed felicity
with these two women were also look
ing forward to their own weddings.
A few days after Mrs. Jones obtain
ed her decree she arrived in the city
OF New York and the same evening
met her friend Mrs. Smith In a private
room at a fashionable restaurant. The
ladies' met for the purpose of dining
together, and each had invited her
fiance.to be of the party.
The ladies mel some time before the
dinner hour and had a good. long chat,
each congratulating the other on her
freedom from a brute and her APP
preaching marriage with a prince of
chivalry. The princes arrived stimuli
%taneously. were taken up to the dinner
room in the same elevator and were
ushered into the presence of their
fiancees at the same moment, the at
tendant announcing:
"Mr. Smith and Mr.. Jonesi"
There was CONSERVATION on the face
Of each and every one of the four.
Mrs. Smiths .fiance was Mr.. Jones,
and Mrs. Jones' fiance was Mr.. Smith.
1t seemed for a time that the embar-
rassment would be un%conquerable and
that the only way out of the contre-
temps was for the party to scatter.
Mr.. Smith, addressing bis recent wife,
finally said:
"My dear, please explain"
Mrs. Smith pointed to Mrs. Jones for
the desired explanation, but Mrs.
Jones was unequal to the task. Mr..
Jones came to the front.
MY friends" he said. sit is evident
that we men have snapped wives and
you wives have swapped husbands.
Mr.. Smith, | have heard what a terri
Bile fellow you are to live with, and l
have no doubt you have heard what a
terrible fellow l am to live with. My