Year: 1876

rity, and her equal IN all respects save one
he was penniless. Her father and mother
we're wealthy and selfish. They desired q
brilliant marriage for their only child, and
when, unable to resist the dictates of her
heart, she left their home, secretly, with her
lover, and was privately united to him at the
house of friend, she was followed by the
stern command to refrain from ever setting
foot beneath their roof or seeking to see their
faces again. Mary was sorely grieved, yet
she did not repent of her rash act Her de-
votion to her husband, and his to her, soften
ed the blow inflicted upon her, and cast rosy
halo over her future. The future, alas, had
nothing in store for her, save the continuance
of this faithful love. The very limited sala-
ry which Edward Graham, as clerk in a
merchants office, was receiving at the time of
his marriage, soon afterwards ceased, on the
death of his employer. He tried to obtain
another situation, but in vain. He was a
stranger in New York, whittier they had re-
moved when he was thrown out Of employ
ment, and had no influence to back him
and all he could succeed in finding was an
occasional transient job, barely remunerative
enough to supply them with the necessaries of
life. Then came illness, dangerous and pro.
tracted, and doctors bills in proportion and
poor Graham, forced in debt, found himself
with feeble wife and helpless baby, abso-
lutely destitute of means, and not knowing
whittier to turn for help. Pride yielded to
necessity, and he wrote touching letter to
his wife's parents, entreating aid for her, not
for him. He even proposed to them to re.
ceive her back under their roof without him,
promising to refrain from all communication
with her until such time as he was able to
support her-a proposition which it nearly
maddened him to make, but for her sake he
could consent to any sacrifice. Mary would
never have let this letter 60, had she seen it !;
but he sent it off without her knowledge.
The answer came, brief and icy, but enclosing
a cheque for FIVE hundred dollars -enough b to
bridge over the chasm of their present needs.


"Mr. and Mrs. Chase beg to acknowledge
the receipt of Mr.. Edward Grahams favor
of the 18th instant They regret that it is
quite impossible for them to comply with his
most singular and unlocked for proposal; to
receive his wife under the stipulations made
by him and are surprised that he should so
entirely have failed to comprehend the utter
severance of the tie which once existed be-
tween Mrs. Graham and themselves. En-
closed, however, Mr.. G. will find cheque for
$500, which he is at liberty to make use of,
with the understanding that no further appli-
cation on his part, will be noticed or replied
to-"


Graham ground his teeth with rage and
modification. He would have flung the pa
per in the fire, and consented to starve, sooner
than use it for bis own personal wants. But
he looked at his wife and child, and, bitter as
the draught was to his lips, felt that he must
swallow it. The debts were cleared of, they
took decent lodging, and he found tempora.
ry occupation in copying papers in an impor-
tant law suit. Mary recovered her health,
managed to procure needle-work, and for a
little time their prospects seemed brighter.
But employment failed again. There came
more sickness, more debts. The barest COM
forts of life slipped away from them. They
were FORCED 70 seek q more humble home, and
here, subsisting only on the moderate earnings
which Mary got by doing coarse sewing for a
ready-made clothing store, they. mig hit we'll
have yielded themselves to absolute despair,
but for their reliance, which fortunately did
not forsake them, on the mercy of an all-wise
Creator, and the hope that He would yet sue
cor them in their need.