The Young Wife CHAPTER 1.
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"One month more, and our happiness will be complete. But how long a month seems, dear Julia!" Frank Lawton said to the fair girl who leaned fondly and confidingly upon his arm.
"It does seem long. But the time will pass quickly, even while we are chiding its seeming delay," Julia replied.
"Yes, our happy day will come soon. Four weeks is not a very long time. And now that we are on this subject, I would like to know which you would prefer: to board for a few months — or to go at once to housekeeping."
"O, I wish to go to housekeeping by all means. I think that every young couple ought to set up for themselves at once. We should begin at the beginning, as old aunt Prudence used to say."
"Then I must look out for a house immediately, and get it furnished."
"You will have but little time to spare, certainly, Frank. A month soon passes."
"I shall need you to help me select the furniture, then," the young man said. "And as soon as I get a house, I will call for you to select the furniture."
"O no, indeed! I could never do that."
"And why not, Julia?"
"Because it wouldn't look well, Frank."
"I am sure there is no harm in it."
"No, I don't suppose there is. But then, what would people say to a young lady's going out to select furniture a month before her marriage?"
"Why, really Julia, I don't know what they could say. Certainly, no harm, at least."
"Indeed, indeed, Frank, I never can do it! It would look too much as if I wanted people to know that I was going to be married."
"Still, that would not be your reason."
"No."
"Then why need you care what people may happen to think. If they misunderstand a right action, and, from a censorious spirit, condemn that action — they are injuring themselves, not you. So, come, Julia, be above all such considerations, and act from your own sense of right and wrong."
"I cannot go with you, Frank, indeed I cannot!" Julia replied, in an earnest tone.
"I do not wish to urge you in the matter," the young man said. "But it would gratify me much, if you would go with me, and assist me to select at least some part of the furniture. The carpets for instance, and the parlor furniture. I am not certain that my taste would please you. We men are not adepts in these matters, for they lie mostly out of our province. Can I not, then, persuade you to go that far?"
"O no, no, no, Frank! I cannot. It would not look right."
"And yet, it would not be in itself wrong, any more than our walking together in the street is wrong. And as I look at it, instead of being a wrong, it would be, in every sense of the word, a right action."
"I cannot see it so, Frank."
"Then look at it in this light. Our house is to be furnished, and you are, by far, the best judge of what is needed. The question thus becomes narrowed down to one that concerns us alone. Why, then, should we consider the opinion of others in the matter? They have nothing to do with it, and they will go out of their way, if they interfere at all. If you do not select your own furniture, many articles may be purchased that will not coincide with your taste; and surely that would be a much greater evil, than the mere idle expression of an opinion, that it was not in good taste for you to go with me and choose such articles of furniture as pleased you."
"O, never fear, but that I shall be pleased with anything you may buy, Frank. I am willing to leave it all to your taste."
"And so you will not go with me?"
"I can't, indeed, Frank!"
"Well, if your mind is made up, it is no use for me to argue the point with you. Still, it would have given me great pleasure, if I could have prevailed upon you to lay aside what I cannot but esteem an objection which is founded in a wrong idea."
"You will have to buy the furniture, Frank, notwithstanding your solid arguments," Julia responded, laughing; "and so you might as well make up your mind at once. You know thata woman's conclusions are armor against all a man's most eloquent reasonings."
"Well, if I must, I suppose I must," Frank Lawton said, laughing in turn. But it was not a very earnest laugh.
By this time, the young couple had reached Julia's home, where, after a few more words, they parted. In spite of all his efforts to find excuses for Julia, Frank Lawton could not help condemning her weak regard for the opinions of others, in a matter that in no way concerned them. His own character was manly and independent. Ever since he could exercise his rational faculties, he had been in the habit of looking within for the true criterion of action. Is it right? was a question, that, with him, decided all doubtful points. It was the square and rule of his whole life.
But now he was encountering, and about to encounter in a still stronger degree, influences which were too powerful for him. Another mind, acting almost like a new mind within his, was about to oppose and modify what had before, been free and permanent. In a word, he was soon to feel the all-powerful influence of a woman he loved, bearing to him the relation of a wife, and that woman — though deeply attached to him, well educated, and highly accomplished — with a mind unable to appreciate his straight-forward, honest, common-sense ideas of the world.
That he was already feeling this influence, and likewise yielding to it, will be evident when it is stated, that he had only been a few years in business, and that his capital was limited. Consequently his income was not large, and there existed a strong reason why he should be prudent in all of his expenditures. His own idea was, that it would be theright way for him and Julia to board for one or two years, until his business became more profitable; and thus avoid the immediate large outlay that would be required to furnish a house. But, when he perceived that she was so earnest about going to housekeeping, he could not find it in his heart to oppose her; thus yielding his better judgment to her wishes.
Julia Manning was an only daughter, and had, from childhood up, been subject to few privations, and no cares. She had never been taught to regard others, nor to deny herself, at times, for the sake of making others comfortable or happy. Necessarily, then, she was not fitted to fill, perfectly, the station of a wife. And yet, she had a kind, affectionate disposition. But she had not been rightly educated.
In a few days, Frank Lawton found a neat house, finished in modern style, and set himself about furnishing it. As he had no female friend whom he could consult, or in whose taste he could confide — he was compelled to select his furniture in the best way he could.
"What kind of carpets must I get?" he asked of Julia, one evening.
"Brussels, of course," she replied. "And be sure to get a rich pattern."
"And the chairs? I suppose I ought to get those with cane seats. I was looking at some very beautiful ones today."
"That is just as you like, Frank," Julia said, in a tone which indicated that she did not entirely approve the selection.
"Would you rather have mahogany ones, with stuffed seats?" he asked, thus inviting temptation.
"They are much handsomer," Julia replied, "and add greatly to the appearance of a parlor."
"Then I will get mahogany ones," he said, although he thought that a less costly kind would do just as well.
"I bought two beautiful pier-tables today," he continued.
"That was right," Julia said, her mind, as she began more fully to realize the idea of being in a house of her own, taking far more interest in what was to be in that house, than it did at first — "Pier-tables are fashionable. Have you bought your looking-glasses yet?"
"No."
"Well, you must have a pair, to fill the piers over the tables, and let them be as large as the pier will permit. And you should have lounges made for the recesses. A pair of sofas, of course, and two pairs of astral lamps with rich lusters for each of the mantel-pieces; besides a pair of large ones to set on the pier-tables. And let the curtains be of blue damask. The upholsterer will know how to make them."
"Is there anything else that you would like for the parlors?" asked Frank Lawton.
"Nothing that I think of now, except two pairs of ottomans and a center table with a slab of Italian marble. Anything else that is needed, can be obtained after we are married."
All the rest of the house was left to Frank, the cabinet-maker, hardware merchant, and upholsterer, and those particular friends of the occasion, took good care that everything necessary, and something over, should be supplied. There was very little left out of two thousand five hundred dollars, when the house was ready to receive the bride, which was a very important reduction of young Lawton's capital in trade, especially, as business was brisk, and he could do as much as his available means would allow.
The wedding passed off in the usual style of such affairs, and then the bride was removed to her new home, and installed in the office of mistress.
"And now, tell me how you like my taste, Julia," said the young husband, after the house and furniture had been examined, from the kitchen to the garret.
"O very much, indeed! These carpets are beautiful; and those are a splendid pair of looking-glasses. Almost too large, if there is any fault."
"You know that you were particular in wanting them large."
"Yes, I know. And they will do admirably. How much did they cost?"
"I gave one hundred dollars a piece for them."
"Well, they are beautiful!"
"Rather too fine," thought her mother. "But he is rich, and can afford it."
"And how do you like the furniture?" Frank said, turning to Mrs. Manning, who had made few remarks during the examination.
"I like it very much, Mr. Lawton, but — "
"Don't come with any of your buts, Mother!" Julia interrupted her, in a laughing tone.
"O yes, speak out plainly," her husband said; "I always like the truth. I cannot believe that everything in this house is as it should be, for I have no practical knowledge of such matters."
"Well, then," Mrs. Manning said, "in the first place, you have bought almost double of nearly everything, as you need."
"O no, Mother!" broke in Julia; "I am sure there is not an article here that is not needed in the furnishing of a parlor."
"But the parlor, my dear," her mother replied, smiling, "is a very small portion of your house. That, in fact, which should receive your smallest consideration."
Julia was silent, for she did not exactly appreciate this idea. And the error on her mother's part, was, in not having long before made Julia practically acquainted with the precept she now uttered.
"There are more things in the kitchen," resumed Mrs. Manning, "than you will ever have use for, unless you intend giving splendid entertainments."
"Of course we do not," Frank said, in a decided tone.
"And then, you have five chambers fully furnished, and in a costly style; and all these for just two people."
"I thought that was wrong, myself," remarked Frank; "but then I left it pretty much to the cabinet-maker and upholsterer, and they said that it was customary to furnish every chamber in the house. But that is usually the way with anyone who undertakes to do what he knows nothing about."
"It would have been better, if you had turned these matters over to Julia and myself. We could have managed them much more judiciously for you."
"Why, Mother!" exclaimed Julia.
"And why not, my child?"
"O, it wouldn't have done at all, for me to have been seen selecting my own furniture before I was married."
"I don't see anything wrong in it, Julia."
"It wouldn't have looked well, Mother; and people would have talked about it."
"Still, my child, it would have been right; for, in doing so, you would have saved your husband an expense of several hundred dollars. That, surely, is of much more importance, than the idle gossip of folks who need something better with which to employ their time."
"It is too late to mend it now, however," Frank Lawton said, refraining from any allusion to the fact that he had tried to persuade Julia to assist him in the selection of furniture. "And we must only profit by this little experience."
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