Year: 1878

victim of outraged rights was too angry
to partake, and so he yelled more Justify
than ever, while tried in vain to quiet
him.


IL had been an outrage upon the rights
of my childhood to convert me into a
wife and mother at my time Of life, but
the outrage was aggravated, as 1 now
know, by my husbands failure to sup
ply me with a companion or nurse OF
experience, who would have known the
child was only exhibiting little Of the
unframed temper OF its parents.


Though / had felt extremely we'll
when quilted my room, was weaker
than I knew; and the excitement of
climbing the stairs, added TO the labor
of trying to soothe the cries Of the auto
crat Of my young existence, was enough
Of itself to bring on a renewal Of my
attack of hysteria; but when to this was
added the stern disapproval Of my hus-
band and the solemn rebuke Of the
abominable Elder, fairly shrieked in
my sudden frenzy.


The physician was summoned, and
when my husband had stated the case,
and be had added his eensure, not in
words, but in look and manner, betok-
ening surprise and disappointment,
was more fearfully miserable than ever.


as insanity hereditary in your wife's
family, Captain ?"


"Not at all, sir"


"And you had no suspicion Of the
faint upon her house when you married
her?"


Instantly I remembered the remark Of
the servant, who had said, before the
birth Of my babe, that 1 did not behave
like a crazy person. The truth Of what
those men were up to flashed over me
like an Inspiration. was in their
power, and they were determined to ad-
judge me insane.


There is a natural law OF recompense
and adjudication in all things. If wom-
an is weak physically, she is quick
mentally; and If man is strong phys
ically, he is slow and obtuse, as COM
pared to woman, in mental things.


81 believe Pm insane, doctor, and I
think you'd better send me 10 the asy-
lum till recover 1 said, just as my
baby, exhausted with its fit Of temper,
concluded to accept its profIered food,
and / sank painting upon the bed, hug
ging it to my bosom as none but a
mother, who knows the fearful price Of
suffering at which her darling's life was
purchased, can know.


Insane persons never admit their in
sanity, Captain" said the physician.
1--WE are at fault. She is merely ex-
cited in her nervous organism, and
needs rest"


"She's had nothing but rest since we
were married, Doctor" replied my hus-
band.


Il do not mean the rest Of inertia, but
the rest Of recreation. As understand
the case, she grew weary Of remain
ing alone within doors, and, leaving
her babe asleep, sauntered forth, after
the rain, for a walk. Ny little lord, her
ruler, awoke, and missing her, made
known his disapprobation in a vocifer-
Gus manner. You, gentlemen, returned
in her absence, and finding his infantile
lordship alone and angry, proceeded,
after the manner of most men, TO ad-
minister gentle reproof to the weary
young mother This was wrong. The
mother robin leaves her nest, depending
upon maternal instinct to shape her
course and impel her return. The
mother sheep will do the same. II does
not hurt the birds 10 chirp, the lambs to
bleat, or the babes to cry after their
mammas; but It does iujure the man.
mas to lacerate their feelings and har-
row their tempers by unworthy censure.
Captain, your wife is a jewel. She's a
gem Of the first water. a little crude
and unpublished, to be sure, but time
and opportunity will mend all that"


I looked at the handsome elderly
physician, with his beaming face and
benevolent manner, and 1 could have
fallen down and worshiped him. Five
minutes before, despite my idolatrous
love for my husband, would have said,
and half believed, that I hated men.
Now a single exception redeemed the
race.


"Surely there is innate good in all
men, else there could not be so bright
an example of its fruition in the one
man before me-" ! said, to myself, as 1
wept silently.


What shall do with her, aayhosg g'
asked my husband, in an abrupt way,
as though he had an elephant upon his
hands, Of which he would gladly rid
f himself if be knew how.


suppose it was well for me that !
was afraid Of him then. Had I not
been, should have defied him, and in
various ways deported myself so vehe-
mently as to reawaken the physician's
fear that I was daft. / really felt my
self capable Of caring for both self and
baby; and, all unused as ! was to the
world and its ways, I would have gone
forth fearlessly to the task if they had
but let me. But did not dare to say
so. 1 hardly dared to think it; for sud.
denly the full meaning Of my husband:
conduct in locking me up alone on my
first advent in the city, and giving or
ders that no servant should answer my
chamber bell, flashed clearly through
my brain. But for my baby l should