Year: 1878

species of the genas homo we meet
too often. He had marked his one
line g life, and thousand better
lines would have offered him no
rtemptaUon, simply because they
We're not his choice. There were
three things he wanted - place,
power aud wife, whose dazzling
attractions would reflect upon him.
self that homage, as the husband
of beautiful woman, which was
the only second hand offering he
TdeSiled.


He was thoroughly amazed that
the pretty, winning Kitty McLane
who had shone like a fairy in her
old country home should come
short of his demands. 1t must he
some stubborn phariseeism, he ar
gued and from this idea he deduced
course of action which we shall
see was doomed to wiring his heart
in mortal anguish. T @


Poor Kitty, there were times
when she was left alone with her
baby, her house, poultry and gar
den, blissful days when the shadow
only now and then darkened her
path. At these times she would
often steal away TO the lake that
lay in the rear of her home. Roll.
ing her baby's carriage to the
edge of the clear, calm water, she
would laugh with it at the splash
ing OF the geese and ducks as they
too rejoiced in the limpid waters.


Over these bright days there
loomed IL cloud which seemed to
threaten the nation, but was to
break in gloom, individually, to
Kitty Calmer. The political sky
was growing lurid with the flames
Of warfare. Col. Calmer SAW his
opportunity for fame, and strained
every nerve to obtain the coveted
prize. He needed to open wide his
doors for elegant entertainments
to the tools he could use as in
struments whereby he might at
tain the desired place. Now he
wanted polite, adroit, and beau
tiful wife, whose womanly tact
could help him, more than he could
help himself, aud he had only Kit
ty. What help WAS in her pretty
face her frank ingenious words,
her boundlesS love for himself and
his baby! Chagrined, he looked
upon her as the cause of his fail
ure, if he must.


In this hour his one sided way
of Judging caused him to underval-
ue those virtues in his wife, which
might have aided him where art
would fail. He became cross, fault
finding and at times wrathful. In
these tumultuous days when rea-
son gave way to widest passion,
when the very air seemed burden
ed with human hate and human
fears, Col. Calmer bore sdown re-
morselessly upon his wife, never
pausing to measure her strength,
even to probe her feelings.


There are women who soon
break down beneath harsh treat
ment, that involves disappointed
affections, and Kitty WAS one OF
these. In his bitter selfishnesS
Col. Calmer did not see that her
blue eyes wandered in numb,
dazed way, that she was growing
helpless from woe that was
breaking her heart. She felt her
self despised, cast oft by him she
so fondly loved and-but one
thought came to her. She. had no
philosophy to meet it, her brain
whirled, andlshe only saw the calm
blue waters of the lake, where her
baby had laughed and cooed to her
smile.


Her body sympathizing with her
mind, grew weak and morbid.
Sleep fled from her eyes; the round
sweetly-tinted face grew pale and
thin; the clear, happy eyes were
veiled with deep melancholy, and
now and then their look was wild
as those of some tortured animal.
Kitty was made for love and hap
piness, and when these we're de-
MED her, life seemed a leng misery,
and death the only relief. This
relief the poor, morbid wife sought
at last under the current OF the
stream, whose sweet still waters
tempted sorely her bruised spirit.


Did her husband realize that he
was her murderer! No; pang of
remorse may have crossed his con
sciousness, but he put it aside as
unwelcome and unreasonable. He
was not to blame it was his wite's
own weak mind. He had been
wrong to choose II woman of such
a weak nature, he thought, eXcus-
ing himself as the poet Shelley did
when his poor, wrOnged wife end
ed her sutferings by suicide. One
of his biegraphers tells us coolly
that Shelley, when he heard OF her
death, blamed himself tor having
married woman with so little
strength of nature.


Col. Calmer said to himself,
"next time | will choose more wise
ly.n 1t Is well that iu these next
marriages there is often retri5u-
tiOn for the wrongs of the first.