THE MERCHANT AND HIS WIFE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 198, 20 August 1872, Page 4

THE MERCHANT AND HIS WIFE.

An Apologue por the Colonial Office. [The following suggestive little sketch is from Froude's Short Studies on Great Subjects.'] "My dear," said a distinguished merchant one day to his wife, " you cost me a great deal of money. Why do you not cultivate your own estates and relieve me of the burden of you ? " The wife was a little hurt at so abrupt an address. Her property was magnificent, out she wanted help to develop its resources. She had often appealed to him, nnd if he would have put his hand to the work, he might have became the wealthiest man in the world. But he suspected that after he had laid out his capital and labor, she would run dway from him, and he would have made a bad speculation. His suspicions were groundless. She was heartily attached to him, — not an idea of desertion had floated before her imagination for a moment. She exerted herself, however, as he desired ; she paid for her dresses, she paid for her carriage and her maid, she even took charge of such of his children as he could not himself provide for, and set them up for. life. The merchant ought to have been satisfied, but one morning he began again. " My dear, you are now independent, I don't wish you to leave me, but if yon have any such desire yourself, I shall not think of preventing you." V Leave you," she said, "leave you! what are you talking about ?-— what have I done to deserve that you should speak to me in that way ? " "Don't misunderstand me," he replied, " " I have .observed great unhappihess to arise from compulsory unions, I have taught yon to depend upon yourself that you may be your own mistress; you can now stand alone, and your future is in your hands to go or stay." "Are you mad," she exclaimed; "who talks of going? Why," and here her voice choked a little, " why should such a word be -mentioned between you and me ?" 1 "My dear, don't be sentimental," he said. "The only sure bond: between human creatures is mutual interest. As long aB you consider it to be your interest to continue under this roof, I shall be delighted to see you here, and I think I am , generous in allowing it. , If I were alone, a smaller establishment! would suffice for my wants. I could sell nrjr house^;; dismiss: Jiay servants, 'live in chambers, and time at the Club."

"My dear, husband," she . cried, "do not speak such' dreadful words! What family cau hold together on such terms ns these. All I have, y*ou well know, is yours; and surely with your genius for business, and your means, my property — " " Don't talk to me about your property," he interrupted impatiently, "I have many tiroes told you that I will have nothing to do with it. Manage your own matters your own way. Do what you like, or po where you will. I interfere with you in nothing — one thing you must not do, that is, ask me for money. X X am not sending you away. I shall be sorry to lose you if you go, but the loss will be more yours than mine, and if you leave me, 1., shall endeavor to bear it." ! It was long before the wife could . believe him serious. Day after day, however, he repeated the same lesson — at breakfast and at dinner, before they -went to sleep at night, and before they rose in the morning. A wise word, the merchant thought, could not be heard too often. At last he wearied her. She saw that he had no real affection for her. She was a high-spirited, handsome woman, and her husband seemed the only person who : was indifferent to her attractions. Gne day when he came home, from business, he found she had taken him at his word, and had eloped with another man. He professed to bo astonished. He declared that he had allowed her her way in everything, and he complained that she bad been' deeply ungrateful to him. A neighbor, however, to whom he appealed for sympathy, told him that he had been an infatuated ass.