The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1923-06-21

Eliot had been married seven years
Arid he was bored not bored with
the temporary languor that came over
hi" of 4 Sunday afternoon when he
wished for enough energy to go and
play golf-hut actively bored so thar
every actinn Of his life as far as he
could see was ngly and luSterleSs. And
yet he loved his wife and his two good
little girls. Mary was pretty. good. de.
voted, and-thOUgh his mind hesitated
n little over the last step-intelliGent.
Her mlnd was MS alert and vigorous
and quick TO understand his thoughts
as il bad heen when. the autumn after
he left college, he had married her.
Il was matrlmOny, he told himself,
not Mary, that bored him but he was
Rware that the line was a fine one.
Nevertheless he had been careful to
draw II. when, the evening before. Sam
Francis aGd he had been discussing
the advantages and disadvantages Of
the married state. Sam was a bachelor.
He had cone over to dine. and after
dinner the two friends had gone to a
moving picture. Mary vas busy put
ting the children TO bed. The picture.
rs il happened. dealt with the life Of
a young married couple; and though
all the walls were Of rough plaster, all
the GoCrways We're arches. and all the
trees eucalyptus. breakfasts and babies
and bills seemed to be much the same
on one coast as On the other.
"If's a dull picture" said Sam the
bachelor, lightly.
ITS a dull subject" said Eliot, the
married man. bitterly.
This opened the door TO a discussion
none the less frank and intimate be-
cause y was carried on In generalitieS.
Eliot began by quoting that terrible
sentence from Middlemarch: 81 never
loved anyone well enough to put my
head into a noose for them-it is a
moose you know" Sam agreed, but
wondered whether every man as he
grew older (Sam was twenty-six) did
not want a home of his own. and at
this point an irresistible desire for
sel!-expression came over Eliot. He
remembered how he had once been
free-free not for evil things but for
adventures that were often nothing
more than intelIectual-free to miss a
dozen suburban trains, If he wanted
to finish a book at the club-free TO GO
to the theater without asking himself
whether the money would not have
been better spent on the children's
shOes-free TO wander all night on the
bridges, thinking of some futile para
doxicaI philosophy, without owing any
one an explanation Of his irregular
hours-free even to give up his job II
It became intOlerable TO him-free IT,
hazard his future In any way he felt
inclined. This was the aspect of mat
rimony that no one explained TO you.
You were told about giving up your
club or your favorite cigar. and per.
haps a good tailor. but no m made IL
clear. that your privacy and your
leisure and your liberty to choose must
go. too.
And TO some people" Eliot said
JuUlclullys no Tx hth h'tiiil- III
common with people like that. ITO some
people life becomes an intoierable bore
when those things 20. OF course that
does not apply to us. because Mary Is
an exceptional woman"
"Oh. very" said Sam smiling TO him.
self In the darkness of the theater,
over the fact that anyone could call
Mary exceptional.
The conversation made little impress
sion ON him, but In E!iot's mind II c.e-
ated a clear mental picture Of his
situation thai he could u forget.
Never. II seemed to him The mex,
morning at ~breakfast. had his ;wo
daughters asked why and when 50
often. Mary, heat and pretty al ME
head of the table. smiled aid 1oured
0ut coffee