LIFE IN THREE CHAPTERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 January 1918, Page 2

LIFE IN THREE CHAPTERS.

MOVING STOIUE.". | i London. Nov. 00. Here is life as il; is iiv;o during the period of a great war. Two .chapters were revealed in the Law Courts. The third chaptet was made public by a wedding. HER SPIKENARD. In the Divorce Court, this leitcr was rend from a wife to her husband: Dear Ca-ston, —Before the die is cast, and an irrevocable wrong done to our children, 1 ask you to .consider the situation squarely. 1 feel you and I have never really faced the position. I have not lived all these years with you with• out' knowing your good qualities, and. notwithstanding the terriblo suil'ering you have inflicted upon me, I am convinced you have suffered 100. . . . We have drifted into a. situation which in your wildest dreams you could not have thought possible some years ago. This woman is entirely ignorant of the atmosphere in which jiou have been brought up. 'She is ignorant of the counties? Units 'that bind you to your immediate family, and to, my'Vriind it will bring unutterable-sorrow to'those you owe a debt of honor to, the most sacred of life. I ask you to pause before you bring shame upon your rhiklreu as well as mo. You and T arc responsible .for our present decision to our children. It is they who will judge our conduct in years to come; it is their lives wo are .coiltroling to-day. For their sakes I ask you to wipe out the past and let it be dead. \ "Let us try again to begin a new life together, 'with greater forbearance in our hearts. I will put the past entirely awav from me. and lie to you as if it had never been. Let us make a now home somewhere away from, here, where you can forget the poison that has crept in your mind with regard to liie, and in a newer and sweeter atmosphere- let love filter through. Some plan can surely be arranged to savo our IJyes, yours and mine, from a terrible sequel. It is not too late yet; I want you to realise a woman's love, and prevent what seorus to be an irrevocable fate/' This spikenard was trodden underfoot •by the husband, owing to 'the incompatibility of our natures." "My present situation is unalterable," lie replied. A GREAT LETTER A private soldier, on his return lo 'England from the front, shot his wife before sho had been unfaithful to him. At Bristol he wjs acquitted of murder. The judge, Lord Coleridge, told the jury that the feelings of a soldier with regard to death were blunted, and they could not judge a man used to tlie grim side of war as they would an ordinary 4 prisoner. Lord Coleridge said the lettera would move the most callous to sympathy. It was_ natural a-nd wholesome that such sympathy sn The Jeter from C to his wife was one wiiicii anybody might be _proud f to have written. Some of the letters in the case were so full.of pathos that prosecuting counsel would not trust himself to read them. In one letter, written from the. Front in reply to his wife's 'confession, the soldier wrote: —>. ' Just a lino to your letter confessing your misconduct and your, condition. Well, Bess, you know I liave not got a hard heart, but I must look after the welfare of my little boy. You say I might be hn-ppy when you are gone. Bess, I still love you dearly, more than I can tell you. Have I not told you, when we have been talking quietly, how these dirty blackguards go'hunting for women who have got their husbands away, and what they do when they get tired of them? But you would not listen to me. T have prayed to God more than once for you and the children, and asked Him to guide you. I hope you don't think, my dear, that 1' am glad Jo hear of this, because I am brokenhearted I was hoping it was not true, hut you confess it is true. I have taken steps to have my children taken away, and you must know f have shed many a tear as well as you and the children. You see, Bess, my love, you have brought sorrow on us all. Could not you see this when this dirty cur of a f?l!ov was after you? Bess, if listen io me I will be your friend as long us I lave." After an allusion to the fact -Miat he was going into action, and "(W alone knew if he would come out alive," *ceused continued:— , "If you knew what we had to go through you would have gone straight, but the damage is done now, and all the bitter feeling won't do it any. goftd. Ask Hod to take care of you, and I will pray for you as well. Try to be a diffel'en 'woman from now for the children's, sake and mine." '•'That," said' defending counsel, "was a letter of a clean, God-fearing man wbo was devoted to his wife, and, though .broken-hearted, was going to see her. through." A LETTER TO A CAD. To King prisoaer wrote: "Both you and my wife are a pair well met. You are both guilty of the meanest conduct I have ever known. You art: trying to blame her and she is trying to blame you. Yon say you are a fitter, and exempt from the Army. But I say you are a cad and a coward, and ought- to be made to serve. It seems to me that you have made a hobby of hunting up women who have their' husbands serving the'ir country, or some poor widows who have lost their'husbands in the war. ... lam not going to see her ruined by a coward like you. I am her husband, and I love her, and.l mean to protect her.'' To his wife he wrote: — "I will be your friend as long as I live. Tell me everything about this man. Let me know the truth, and I promise you I will help you nil I can; but, my dear, don't tell lies about me; it won't do you anv good. ... I will pray lor you." The jury acquitted accused' after considering tlieir verdict for an hour and a half

■RLTXD SOLDIER'S BRIDfi The war hris produced no more moving or romantic incident than that seen at Nott iuphaiu on Saturday. Blinded and crippled in the war. Private W. Parker, of the Northants Regiment was led to the alter of St. Stephen's Cliureh by the girl who was his sweetheart when tiie war broke out, and who loyally refused to give liim up when his lil'e arid prospects were shattered. Parker summoned her to the hospital in which iie was- placed on his; arrival in Kngjand for t.lio express purpose of releasing her from her engagement. He enlisted a month after the outbreak of war, and the following September, at Loos, he was shot through bot.h legs. In less than a year lie had,recovered, and again went out in August, 18!ti, juvd fought on the Somme. Only a. week or two after his return he was in the act of throwing a bomb when if exploded iu his band. Both bis hands were shattered, and his sight »»» eonipletely- destroyed. . " • ■ a "> *"• a St. tjuzMtao'*, and lxas