Year: 1872

! y
now beats lightly in that bosom, will
be weighed down, like mine, by the
cares and miseries of the world.


At length he came to me one day and
related his whole situation in a tone OF
the deepest despair. When | heard
him through inquired, Does your
wife know all this 2" At the question
he burst into an agony of tears. 'FFor
Gods sake !" cried he, " if you have
any pity on me don't mention my wife?
it is the thought of her that drives me
almost to madness. y


And why not 2" said [. "She must
know it sooner or later you cannot
keep it long from her, and the intelli-
gence may break upon her in more
startling manner than if impaired your
self for the accents of those we love
soften the harshest tidings. Beside,
yoa are depriving yourself of the COM
forts of her sympathy and not merely
that, but also endangering the only
bond that can keep hearts together
an unreserved community of thought
and feeling. She will soon perceive
that something is secretly preying
upon your mind ; and true .S2ve will
not brook reserve it feels u rtrvalued
and outraged when even the sorrows of


hose it loves are concealed from it. %


4" Oh, but my friend to think what
a blow [ am to give to all her future
prospects-how / am to strike her very
( soul to the earth, by telling her that
her husband is a beggar! that she is to
forego all the elegances Of life-all
the pleasures of soclety-to sink with
me into indigence or obscurity To
tell her that [ have dragged her down
from the sphere in which she might
have continued to move in constant
brightness-t light of every eye-the
admiration of every heart! How can
she bear poverty? She has been
| brought up in all the refnements of
| opulence. How can she bear neglect {?
She has been the idol of society.
! Oh it will braak her heart-it will
break her heart !! /"


I saw his grief was eloquent, and Ilet
| it have It's flow for sorrow relieves it..
self by words. When his paroxysm
had subsidized, and he had relapsed in
to moody silence, I resumed the sub
iect gently, and urged him to break
his situation at once to his wife. He
shook his head mournfully, but posi-
lively.


" But how are you to keep it from
| her? 1t is necessary she should know
it, that you may take the steps proper
to the alteration of your circumstances
! You must change your style of living
nay, observing pang pass across
/ his countenance, "don't let that afflIct
you. / am sure you have never placed
your happiness in outward show-yau
have yet friends, warm friends, who
will not think the worse Of you for be-
ing less splendidly lodged; and surely
it does not require palace to be hap
by with Mary"


C [ could be happy with her," cried
he, convulslvelY, Gin hovel Icould
go down with her into poverty and the
dust [ could-I could God bless
her!" cried he, bursting into a trans
port of grief and tenderness.


| 'EAnd between me, my friend, said
stepping up, and grasping him warm
! ly by the hand, ''believe me she can
be the same with you. Ay, more it
will be a source of pride and triumph
to her-it will call forth all the latent
! energies and fervent sympathies of her
nature for she will rejoice to prove
| that she loves you for yourself. There
IS in every true wOman's heart spark
of heavenly fire, which lies dormant in
! the broad daylight Of prosperity, but
! which kindles up, and beams and
! blazes in the dark hour of adversity.
No one knows what the wife of his
bosom is-no man knows what minis
I +np1I1f aJ10nl cha 1,nfiI ln hoe
with her through the fiery trials of this
world"


There was something in the earnest
ness OF my manner, and the figurative
style of my language that caught the
excited imagination, Of Leslie. [ knew
the auditor [ had to deal with; and fol-
lowed up the impression [ had made.
[ finished by persuading him to go
home and unburden his sad heart to
his wife.


[ must confess, notwithstanding all !
had said, [ felt some little solicitude
fol the result. Who can calculate on
the fortitude of one whose life has
been round of pleasure? Her gay
spirit might revolt at the dark down
ward path Of humility suddenly pointed
out before her, and might cling to the
sunny regions in which they had hith-
erto reveled. Besides, ruin in fashion
able life is accompanied by so many
CALLING Notifications, to which in no
other ranks it is stranger. In short,
/ [ could not meet Leslie the next morn
ing without trepidation. He made the
disclosure.


s.And how did she bear it 20


Like an angel 1t seemed rather to
be . relief to her mind, for she threw
her arms around my neck, and asked
If this was all that lately made me un-
| happy. But, poor girl" added he,
''she cannot realize the change we
must undergo She has no IDEA of
poverty but abstract she has only read
of it in poetry, where it is allied to
love. She feels as yet no privations
she suffers no loss of accustomed con-
veniences nor elegances. When we
come practically to experience it's sor-
did cares, its paltry wants, its petty
! hum1liation-then will be the real
/ trial "


! But" said l, "now that you have
got over the severest task, that of
breaking it to her, the sooner you let
the world INTO the secret, the better.
The disclosure may be Notifying but
then it is single misery and soon
over; whereas you otherwise suffer it
in anticipation every hour of the day.
1t is not poverty SO much as pretext
that harnesses the ruined mamie
struggles between a proud mind and
empty purse-the keeping up a hollow
show that will soon come to an end.
Have the courage to appear poor and
you will disarm poverty of its sharpest
sting" On this point [ found Leslie
perfectly prepared. He had no false
! pride himself, and as to his wife, she
was only anxious to conform to their
altered fortunes.


Some days after this he called upon
me in the evening. He had disposed
of his dwelling house and taken a
small cottage in the country a,few miles
| from town. He had been busted all
!