Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-07-22

greeting for her; he would have no,..
a dark and sullen silence would epw,.,
him for days to come.
She put the food on the table A. n.
half hour and called him to dinner. y.
did not stop to wash his face or hand.
u comb his hair. He came Just AZ h.
was. sullenly, silently and hunched NJ.
chair up to bis place. Without e,sno.
at her he began to eat. She watches
him lifting the food to his mouth : shs
watched him spreading the hot biscuit.
she had made for him with thick. has,
dabs Of butter; she watched him a, 4.
moved his heavy muscular jaws, slovl,
and deliberately masticatins. There h.
sat, slum, lowering, unfriendly.
Suddenly something snapped in b.,
She screamed; she screamed piercinsl,
one wild. sharp shrek. She buried h.,
face in her hands, forcing the finsen
deep into her eyeballs. Then she besan
to sob. brokenly, pasionately, all "a.
grief pent up in her bursting out in A.
agony Of weeping.
TN THIRTEEN YEARS Tom ysI,
l lentins had never seen his wife cr,
He was startled now-alarmed Ana
shocked. He watched her in pained nm,
eahness for some minutes, gropiue
about In his mind for some way to cbect
the flood Of sobbing that beat upon Al,
ears. 1t had been a long. long timS
since he had laid hand upon her IN
affection, yet now he was moved BY IL.
VIOLENCE Of her grief. and the unfamiliar
impulse came to bin.
He laid down bis knife and fork and
stared at her stolidly,' frowning deeply.
He thought Of getting up and pattins
her shoulder; he tried to think Of soms.
thing TO say, and In his preplexity began
to talk at random. He did not know
how to be gentle; he had forgotten how
to be tender. The iron bonds OF habit
were too well forged about him. He had
always treated his wife with contumsly.
and now when he strove to reach be,
troubled spirit with gentler words hs
found himslef only mouthing a justi.
fcation OF his actions that morning.
Lucy could not suspect that behind
the harsh voice and slow, clumsy word,
there stirred within him the first con.
Germ for her he had known In years
Only the dosged reiteration Of the facts
about the cream reached her conscious.
ness. Her sobbing fell silent. but shs
still pressed her palms to her cheeks,
her fingers to her eyes. Presently sh,
was aware he bad forsaken the topic Of
the cream; now it was of his virtues hs
discoursed.
"' I let you live your owl
life; you 90 and come as you please,
you have your own friends. I never
ask you how or why you spend tho
money every month. and I never let tho
first go by without depositing your
check in the bank. I never question
what you do with yourself all day; all I
ask of you is to run the house and
keep things nice. ! don't ~
how you've got much fault to find with
me. don't drink or gamble or smoke,
I don't go out nights, and I've never
looked at another woman In all my life.
Now some men--'
Lucy listened until she could stand
no more. With wet tears staining her
cheeks and her face convulsed she sud.
denly straightened herself and faced
him. her lips trembling, her hands half
outstretched to him across the table.
"Oh. Tom. Tom." she cried. II don't
care how moral you are. I don't care
anything about other women. don't
care whether you 20 after them or not
Seek them, kiss them, have them-de
anything you like! Gamble. smoke and
drink. Deny yourself nothing on my
account. don't care how wicked you
are. All want you TO do is to %
kind to me, Tom-be kind, be kind!
Don't be so ugly and mean to me. And
sometimes--just now and then--try to
love me little.'
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