Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1925-06-18

claim him. She had formulated pol
Icy and to this policy she would cling
with all the tenacity of which she was
capable.
Her policy had been formed with
full knowledge Of the fact that it
would be hard to follow. Her own
nature revolted against mysteries and
superstitions and fears Of unrealities.
Her husband had not ever given her
grounds to assert that these were the
basis for his morbid panics, but he
had by malice or inadvertence, created
dim picture of some menace, some
secret human conspiracy, some strange
force, which pursued to the death any
man unlucky enough to have meddled
with her destiny. At times it was diff
ficult for her to escape, by the exer-
else Of common sense, haunting idea
that there was some foundation for
this apparent absurdity. AS she said:
ct is just SO with all things The
confidence Of knowledge isn't half as
much because person has possession
Of the facts as because one has free
dom at last from the fear that there Is
SO much that one doesn't know" But
she disliked herself for her own I'M
certainties.
A choice was open to her between
| turning her back upon Parmalee's
fears and setting out by systematic
| and persistent observation and cross
| questioning to uncover them. It was
not because the latter course was diff
flcult that she rejected it; it was not
because, little by little, he had built a
wall around his own thoughts which
not only untitled him for social con-
| tact but excluded her from his inner
| life; 1t was not because of his increas-
| Ing irritability when questioned, nor
| finally was 1t because he always, In the
end, made her feel that he was trying
| to spare her from some dreadful
knowledge, and some overhanging
curse that was upon her. She chose
to neglect the terror that had seized
him because she felt that If sufficient
neglect were heaped upon it, 1t would
gradually die. Often enough in years
that were to follow she wished with
all her being that she had not allowed
herself to remain in the dark.
She wished often enough after the
| end came that she had at least kept
her eyes open, but there were Incl
dents which drew her attention by the
very force Of their being extraordinary
| or bizarre.
Evenings spent in the high studded
chambers of this austere abode that
none Of her decorative skill, given free
play by Parmalee's money, could res
cue from their brooding gloom were
| far from cheerful. The temper Of her
husband forbade entertainment and,
| try as he did, there was no comfort
for him In his efforts to converse with
| Brena-efforts which like the sQueez-
| ing Of the juice from sour fruit pro
| duced less the more the pressure had
| been applied. Within year he had
developed an Unsuitable appetite for
his studies of the history Of the South
west, his collecting of books and man.
uscripts bearing upon the ancient CIV
| ilization and tribes of Central Amer
| lea, Mexico and the tangent region Of
| the United States where the painted
| deserts are, and his compilation of
data that bore In any way upon the
comparison of the Inca, the Aztec and
the Yucatan civilizations with those Of
Egypt, Greece and Persia. There Is
still in existence, covered with dust,
pile Of manuscript in his own hand
writing which, 1t appears, was the be-
ginning of work upon subject that
| only his interest qualified him to at
| tempt. A Spectator, gambler, cotton
broker and commission agent, as Brena
has said, does not bring to preten-
tious scientific work the orderly mind,
the ease of expression nor the reali-
zation Of IT'S magnitude that one might
expect in q professor, for instance
He might better have spent his time
In furnishing to his beautiful young
wife q companionship Of some kind,
no matter how inadequate, but he had
closed himself In a CHASTITY shell Of
his own. Sometimes for days she did
not see him at all and only knew of
his presence in his library by his fits
| of coughing.
Brena, committed to waiting for the
conclusive end to this distorted exist
ence, which something within told her
destiny would bring, found refresh
ment only in her days. When morning
came there was an escape; she could
go by train or motor to the CITY,
Though she found among the persons
she met and those who worked with
her in the Forest pottery, founded
with her own money, that she Ca grim
joke) was looked upon distantly as
young, rich, contented wife, she
drank down long drafts Of the pleas
ures of creative labor and of the pat
ronage she was able to give to young
women whose talents deserved devel-
opment. Her activity would have
been sufficient, however, If 1t had
served only to submerge the memories
of nights alone in her two great rooms
when the wind played mournful melo-
dies as If on the bars of moonlight
| that fell through the gates of Parma
| lees estate and across the damp lawn
| from which, winter and summer, there
arose the odors of decay and death.
~x~x@x*x*x*x.x.x*x*x"x*x*x
Persian Rug Classed