Year: 1878

felt thankful when my darling was dead.


Once, when I had become 50 wearied
after a hard days toll as to be scarcely
able to drag my tired limbs to the SOM
Der wildwood, l went, as usual, 10 the
hallOwed retreat, resting and almost
eeasing to think at all, my dear boy
stood before me, as palpably plain as
ever I had seen him in the flesh. And
his form was as erect as the tabled Ap-
pollo's, his features as perfect as those
Of the famed Adonis, and his face as
radiant as a summers sunrise.


This mortal has put on Immortality,
mother mine" he said to me. pointing
TO the earth-mound where the easket
lay, and again indicating the glorified
representative Of his present self, as he
smiled in ineffable sweetness.


Dear readers, l know I shall be CEN
sured for telling you this. Some Of you
will persist in believing, despite my as
sertion to the contrary, that my intense
affection and earnest longing for my
loved one induced this vision. Others
will knolO l was mistaken in what
saw, because Of certain vague and dis
connected prophecies, the product Of an
era that tried even more assiduously
than the present one to stifle free inves-
tigation. No matter. I speak only OF
that which I know, and testify only Of
ruh hof har nd faF fha hNin
verdict be what it may, am content
with the knowledge which that real Wis
ion brought me. From that day to the
present 1 have patiently awaited the
appointed time till my change, too,
shall come.


But, again | fear l am growing gar
rulous. I was telling you about my
twins. But they were not my only chill
dren after Gerald aud Ethel. Like the
other women of our neighborhoOd Of
whom | told you, I thought I obeyed
the divine injunction to the letter. But
/ often inwardly rebelled against my
lot, and what 1 inwardly Tebelled
against because l could not help IL, my
daughters in their turn have repudiated
openly, because they think it right to
do so. I allude to the subjugation of
their selfhoOd in the holy domain of
sex. Not that they refuse TO bear the
sacred obligations Of maternity, but
each reigns a supreme priestess in the
realm Of maternal possibility, and
their children and my grandchildren,
though not so numerous as were my
own little ones, attest the wisdom of
their determination and triumph in
superior health, happiness, and men,
tality.


The world doesn't need more children,
but better ones. But this idea is to me
a late development of my mental un-
derstanding, and has only served me in
my second and third generations.


God had mercifully removed Gerald,
my son, to be with the angels, but for
some mysterious reason he bad left Ger
aid, my husband, to be my terror and
plague spot.


Poor Gerald! He rarely came home
sober after the tragic death Of our son.
Indeed, be made his grief the excuse for
increased potations. The dogs, the
children, and the very house cats fed at
his approach. I only, as his wife, was
compelled to stand the storm and endure
brunt Of his undoing.


remember one time, as lay in my
bed, with one of my tiny unwelcome
waits OF a few days old upon my weary
arm, that be came home in the usual
maudlin condition and paid open and,
as / considered, shameless court to a
strapping halfbreed woman whom had
been compelled to employ about our
wretched home till l should be again
upon my feet.


l did not dare to resent the insult to
my wifely dignity, so I smOthered my
disgust till ] became the victim Of a
raging fever. While I was half fiighty
with the intensity Of the fever, my hus-
band hailed a bevy Of passing miners,
all more or less under the influence OF
liquor, the same as himself, and calling
them into our apology Of a sitting-room,
bade them wait till he could bring for
ward and exhibit his new heiress. It was
raining, and the day was cool, and was
afraid to trust my delicate baby in his
unsteady hands.


Alas, did I not well remember the
fate Of Gerald, my boy?


Weak as was, ! raised my will, and
the will Of a mother aroused for the
safety Of her offspring is not trifiing, be
she ever so weak, and ordered the men


from the house and forbade nv pro.


tector to remove the babe from the bed


Perhaps the latent sense Of modesty


sobriety, and justice was aroused in


these men, for they silently withdrew


mounted their horses, and rode away.


Gerald felt that his dignity as head o


his own house had been insulted.


have always noticed that the lower /,
man falls in the social and moral scale
Tue more his imaginary dignity rises


anu The easier he considers himself oG
o Tended therein.


ne coarse woman had employed A
Il temporary domestic agreed with M,
{, liege lord in his deuunciations ~ ~.
d voted head and I was already welI-,ig
d crazed with their abuse and insoleuc,
s when my husband, who stood AZ N


foot Of my bed-a frail, riekety thin
d my own hands bad long ago constructs
I and shaking the bed violently, thre
p il to the ground with a crash.