The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1917-11-14

OF a Wife
The Law Of Compensation.


DO you know" said Dick
when I reached that part of the
letter from the "woman outside"
which spoke OF the debt one hui
man being owes to another, Il
think we pretty much get what 10
coming to us in this world"
Perhaps, Dick" / answered.
"But I think this woman Is rather
reaching out for an ideal state"
She says:
Perhaps you know the answer.
Mrs. Margie, to the question,
What do we all owe to each 9TH
err Sometimes, have thought
It was only understanding, and
then I have found that the people
who seemed readiest to under
stand were most delinquent in
sympathetic doing, and SO I con-
Tess than even now while pass
ing thru this awful catacysm I
cannot solve the problem Of why
there should not be some benefit
cient dispensatIon by which the
one man and the one woman, who
in all the world are suited to each
other, might be mated.
81 am not going to bother you
with the morals of my affair, but
l am going to say to you that !
wish you would tell story some
time that would make very clear
this law of compensation.
There is no such thing, Mrs.
Margie, as mercy. Some of us
may evade public punishment, but
we will secretly pay--pay just the
same. The man is paying now.
Although do not see him 1 know
that life has lost its SAVIOR, the
|old restlessness has returned in
greater degree, and he will never
be happy again as he was with
me.
"The wife is paying in that she
has lost the best through her sell
fishness and egotism.
And great God of the Uni
verse, help me to forget"
I stopped reading. The story
of the Isosceles Triangle was fin
lshed. After moment Dick said,
"She Is right, Margie, and the
strange thing about 1t all is that
up to this time I thought l was
the only poor devil In the world
that had found out that this mer-
cy business was all a fake. Why
should we not be taught the truth
that there is absolutely no way
of evading consequences"
He turned over with a sigh, but
in a few moments l heard his
breath come rythmically and
knew he was asleep. quietly
prepared for bed, but after / got
into bed l could not sleep. | lay
there comparing my life with that
of the woman outside" and |
wondered IL her associates knew
as little about her as mine do
about me.
Even to my dearest friends my
life has always seemed very quiet,
very uneventful, very contented.
Only you, little book, know all the
surge, all the heart break, all the
soul weariness-and yes--all the
/ Joy tHCl lldS DCCh cat JOY .
I guess it is an average life after
all. little book.
I looked out the window across
the flat lanscape. We were near
ing Chicago as / reviewed the
past years.
l almost dreaded to come back
to the world and my friends again.
All these months that Dick and
l had been by ourselves I realized
we had been comparatively happy.
I had been very glad to help him
back to health. But, little book,
/ had begun to dread the future.
what is awaiting me when the
train pulls into Chicago" l said
to myself. After that, 1t will ne
only q short while when we will
be home again. My heart was
filled with foreboding. 1t will hurt
me to look upon Mollie's unhap-
piness, I thought. I know / would