Year: 1876

children whom they loved and were proud


OF; both had indugent and intellectual hus-


bands both had beautiful homes. But Mrs.
! MerWln was not slow to perceive, as they


sat together sewing, in the cool mornings,


that her friend was far above her in sweep


Of thought and grasp Of intellect She was


mortified that of many subjects that came up


naturally in the course of conversation she


was quite ignorant, and though she could


talk tuently in regard to carpets, and curtains


embrOlderies and dress-the latest discoveries
of science, the latest achievements of art, the


last new books, she knew absolutely nothing


about, and was dumb when they were men


toned. How did Mrs. Banks manage to


keep up with the age, and she SO far behind


it? Their children were nearly the same in


number, their household cares not widely


different, their husbands in the same profes-


sion. Here was Il mystery. and she watched
| for it's solution.


She noticed that at night the young chill


dren were put to bed early, before Mr. Banks


came home, so the house was quiet; for


though men who have worked with their


muscles all day may love to frolic with their


little ones when they come home ut night,


men whose brains have been taxed during all


the business hours OF the day enjoy the most
| perfect stiffness and require it. She noticed
too, that the sewing machine, the work bas-
ket, even the knitting work was invisible af-
| ter nghtfall, and however awry or difficult
| the household arrangements had been during
| the day, nothing but serenity and cheerful
| ness shone in the evening parlOrs. While
| those Of the children who were permitted to
| appear at the table amused themselves in the
dining room or read quietly in the parlor, MIR.
| and Mrs. Banks gave themselves wholly to
a., Il Eh<,, g
day was discussed, the last new book re-


viewed, or some important discovery rchear-
sed, while at intervals the conversation drop
ped into that pleasant small talk which makes
up SO much of social interchange. Occa-
sionaIly they passed the evening at a concert
or prayer-mecting, but Mr.. Banks was never
at the club, rarely away from home after
nightfall.


Many sad misgivings had Mrs. Merwin as
she cOntrasted the perfect mutual interchange
between the husband and wife whose guest
she was, and her life with her husband ; and
as she reviewed the years, little by little, light
daWned upon her mind. She saw how gradu-
ally she had allowed unnecessary industries
to encroach on time that might SO much bet
ter have been devoted to intellectual culture.
What availed it now that Molie and Henry
and Willie had been so claborately dressed





attire, instead OF that on which she had spent
so much time and thought, how many hours
she might have given to reading and keeping
up with her husband! To be sure, her parlors
were exqusitely ornamented with variety
of fancy work wrought by her hands! but
when she listened to the utterances of her
friends, rich as they were with the varied
accumulatiOns of those intellectual treasures,
the law of whose existence is increment, she
felt poor indeed in all the resources most
earnestly to be desired. Was it not possible
that she and Frank might be all to each other
that these two friends were? At any rate
she would talk with Mrs. Banks and find
out if she could, just how she had 50 perfect
ly won and kept her husbands heart, and
how with all the cares of growing family,
sne had managed to keep her mind bright
and full.


So, one day as they sat together, she in-
troduced the subject cautiously, lest Mrs.
Banks might suspect that she and Frank were
not so near to each other as they might be.


Il don't see where you get SO much time
to read and find out everything said Mrs.
Merwin ''yOu seem to be eas fresh asi ifyou had
but lust left school, while | have forgotten
almost everything knew, and yet l don't
see but that you have as many cares as l
have"


81 neglect good many things = said Mrs.
Banks "my tides are all bought, while l
dare say you knit yours yourself my chill
dren's clothes are perfectly plain, and so are
my own. I've often wanted to ask you |
where you got so much time to make all the
pretty clothes Minnie wears


'sOh, make them at night, after the chill !
dren are quiet Frank is away at the club, !
and have all the evening to sew


':Mr. Banks dosen't like to have me sew or |
knit when he is at home; he says it doesn't |
seem as though was entertaining him when
am intent on the needle and so I've never done
it except when compelled to by stress OF



''And you always devote yourself to him as
you have done since have been here?"


'Yes, always; talk to him or pet him
until he's rested, and then he talks to me,
tells me all the news and everything that has
during the day; sometimes talks
over his cases with me. / often find on the
envelopes of his letters a memorandum of
items to tel her. and half feel as though
have been wherever he has been during the
day. If he sees new picture he describes it
SO wildly to me that it's really better than
seeing it with my own eyes; if he reads
new book he goes over the points of it with
me, and it has been this way ever since we
were married, SO that do feel that my mind
has grown almost as much as his, though l
have been SO full of household and family
cares"


Mrs Merwn sighed audibly, and then
came up in memory many day when Frank
had come home weary, and evidently longing
for just this interchange of sympathy with
his wife. How had it been met? Was there
not something better than this laborious
of ornamentation? Could not the
tongue and the eye have knitted finer and
more valuable fabrics than the busy fingers