Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1923-11-08


of marriage of striking originality.
1t takes up an Old point-the nag
Bing Wi.e-in an entirely new fash
ion. !:
! MARY STEWART CUTTING, JR. !!
If only Mrs. Thomas Balm had been
content to compare Mr.. Thomas Balm
with men about him, he. for counter.
arguments, would not have been put
at serious disadvantage Out of her
ammunition locker he might have Dor
rowed shells 10 fire in his own defense
Did she. for instance, cite the polished
beauty of Mr.. So-and- Sos drawing-rOom
behavior, speaking with that subtle in
Election which as good as said that his
own society manners left much to be
desired, Mr. Bain's rebuttal would have
been prompt and ready. He would
have spoken right up to point out the
fact that So-and-So VIGOROUSLY neglect.
ed his family or that he drank entirely
too much for his own good, or that he
habitually failed to pay his just debts
Mr.. BAN was no Scandal-mOnger, un.
derStand. Still man must fight back
with such weapons as he may com
mand.
But Mrs. Rain's method of attack
was entirely TOO subtle for him; 1t left
him practically weaponless. Out in the
world he amply was competent to fend
for himself. Beneath the domestic
roof-trce, where his wife sat in iudr.
ment ON him, his ways. his small short.
comineS or his larger faults. he com.
rletelN was NJ loss for proper rebuff
tai. II gave him such helpless feel.
ing! II would have given any normal
man helpless feeling And Mr.. Balm
was in all essential regards a normal
mana good citizen, a good prOvider
and as husbands so, an average fair
husband
| would do Mrs, Bain no injustice.
She was normal woman, too. But II
is only natural that when destiny has
fashioned an advantage to fit our hands
that we should employ 1t. Her advan.
tage was n very great one. Her crIti-
cisms of Mr. Rain took the form of
measuring him off against the conceived
picture of her first husband.
And her first husband was dead
Now, in common decency, an honorable
man-and Mr.. Balm was an honorable
man-Inay not speak i'll of the dead.
What is more, had he, under stress OF
proVocation, been minded to retort that
after all Mrs. Baln's first husband was
not exactly perfection either. he could
have produced no proof to support the
assertion. For he had never seen his
predecessor. lie knew nobody who
had known the deceased The present
Mrs. Balm had been for three wears "A
widow when first he set ewes on bar
she had lately returned then from
Honolulu; II was in Honolulu that she
had been bereft, as the saying Is, nv
the hand of death And Honolulu Is a
long distance from BrocKway. Mass
where Tom Ban'S people. stay-at.
home stock, had lived these five gen.
eratlonS past
SO. on those frequently recurring oc-
caSions when Mrs. Balm, with q sad
dened, almost wiStful, air WAS moved
to remind herself Of her first husbands
marvellous qualities-temperam dis
position, tact amiabi,ity or what NOT
there was for her second husband MOTH
ing to do but to suffer on In an impo-
tent silence. II Is not well that anyone
on this carth-and more especially a
husband-Should he required 10 suffer
discomforts in silence Suffering calls
for vocal expression.
Otherwise. as human beings 70. Mr.
and Mrs. Balm were well suited one for
the other II was that dead first hus.
band ar hers who, invoked by her. ken,
rising up 10 mar the reasonable hspnI.
ness which might have hecn theirs The
thing WAS getting on his nerves. In.
deed, M the time This hriefenpd nara.
tive begins 1t already had got upon his
nerves. He had come to the poInt
where frequently he wished there ma,
never been a first husband.
There were even times when he 81,
most permitted himself the wish tina,
there never had been such things as
second husbands, either.
With the acute vNidneSs OF a war
Scared veteran remembering the first
time he was shot. lac could reconstruct
the occasion when Mrs. Bain's former
husband first came into his life. They
had been married Just two month:
then. The honeymoon was In its last
quarter. If the couple we're ever to e
along together in harmony the time
had now come wien mutual under