Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1923-07-05


undiplomatically frank in describing
them. She knew that some essential
element had gone out of their mar
rlage, some element she craved. With
something of fear she realized that
she did not love Mcdonald. The urge
which had swept her into marriage
with him, and made their first years
together very sweet and wonderful.
had vanished. This discovery was fol-
lowed by period of active revolt. She
worked herself into a state of mind
in which she believed her husband
had become actually repulsive to her,
and, in her headstrong way. she told
him in storm Of tears.
Mcdonald stood aghast. That such
thing could have happened to him
was unbelievable. 1t was incredible
until he sorted over his own feelings
toward his wife and found that he had
reached a state of Indifference toward
her. The glow was gone forever
They had reached a point which
every married couple must reach-the
moment of reimbursement when they
must rebuild upon a new foundation
or see their structure swept away by
the rising storm. They seemed I'M
able to locate a stable foundation upon
which to lay new cornerstone
Mcdonald considered the practical
side of the question. The thing, he
told himself, was fact. Apparently
it could not be mended, so there was
nothing to do but try to make the
best of It, The children made any
other course impossible, and finances
made this course necessary. 1t was
all he could do to support one estab-
lishment in comfort, therefore, even
had he been willing to do so, he could
not have allowed Jane to leave him as
she seemed to wish to do. He had
not the money to allow her to live
separately in Independent depend
ence
James reactions. however were
purely emotional. She no longer loved
Mcdonald. and to love seemed to her
the one essential to life-to love and
to be loved She awoke bitterly to the
realization that the love which she
loved had not been present in their
home for years. She craved the up
lift of love. remembering how she had
been borne along blindly upon warm
rushing wave of love during the first
years of her married life. She want
ed that again wanted it to continue.
The idea of the commonplace was alb
horrent to her; the thought of contin-
uing to live with Mcdonald as his wife
was repulsive. She was young, vivid.
lOvelier even than she had been ten
years ago. and she felt SOMEHOW that
Ter lovelinass and her life were going
to waste: that she was being cruelty.
bitterly cheated
Which, if YOU stop to think of 1t, is
a dangerously fertile state of mind.
The first sharpness of realization
became somewhat dulled. Life con-
tinued The household remained in
tact, but always it perched upon the
brink of disaster. Everything was
commonplace. habit, humdrum. 1t
was maddening, wearing, constant
source of irritation. Chickering's were
inevitable.
Mcdonald settled down grimly to
the task of holding his family togeth-
err. of holding his wife. He was es-
sentially fair-minded. He perceived,
regretted, and tried to make the best
[ of it-but ii was not easy. A certain
| testiness of disposition added to the
| difficulties. AS for Jane, sshe went
| along thinking of herself. holding
| herself more or less in suspense. crav-
ing, always craving for the return of
that which had vanished forever.
Jane had always done much as she
pleased, and Mcdonald had inter-
fered little with her whims and
amusements. She had her friends,
both men and women. but, John saw
with alarm, her men friends were
narrowing down to one She golfed
with John Firth. Mcdonald was log
zeal enough to realize the danger of
it, but also he had the self-rebellious
strain which drove her. sometimes
against her own will, to do those
things which she was extremely for
| hidden to Go. or to accomplish that
from which authority sought to re-
strain her. Mcdonald knew his inter-
ference would only make a bad mat
| ter worse.
He was more or less. of fatalist,
too. eff she's any good, he said to
himself, shell stick. If not, she'll
GO" And there he rested. hoping for
the best
These things happened in those I'M
| pleasant days of 1920 when business
was ill with that epidemic which
decimated the financial population, as
| the "fu" had decimated the human
| population of the country and now,
when McDOnalds mind and heart
were full Of tie danger which threat
| enpd his home his business took sick
| of it, and lay at the point of death.
| He dealt in silks. and everybody
knows what happened to silk in that
unhappy year.
For weeks at a time his presence.
was required in the city day and
! night. For weeks at a stretch he car
| ried his load of worry into his home
| after midnight. there TO lie tossing,
i brain veXed almost to madness. un-'
able to sleep. 1t was during these
weeks Of what Jane was pleased to
call NEGLECT. that her incipient affair
with John Firth began to assume clear
outlines. He was bringing into her
| life again that thing she craved-ro-
NANCE, the eagerness of those first
days of her marriage. He loved her.
Fehemently he told her of his love,