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Show r I LOVE and MARRIED LIFE I Imj. the noted author Idah MSGlcme Gibson I MY WEDDING GIFT TO .MY DAIGHTER rstcrdn; I went to the attic to look for a piece of Chinese brocade that T Intended to give to the dressmaker that Blie might maUe a neg)lgce for Miry, my daughter, who will, within! " month man nuni;, Ifohert . i ; lord. . H seems such a long time sin'"'- 1 used to call him little bobbv K6 one calls I Robert Gaylord, Jr., "J3obby" even! though to this day his father is known I h that name Robert is too much like his mother to merit the somewhat lr ri sponsible nickname that is so appro-' i rlate to his father Kohert Is a splendid young man and 1 1 ms very much in io e with my Mary, who Is a kind of flyaway, head-1 strong girl, much like h r fathi I used to be. W - I found the piece of brocade andi w thin its folds, fragrant with the in-1 cense of China. I found the little book' in which I had written the annals ; the storv of my first marriage. I ve been reading it over and sometimes I! have laughed and sometimes I h a v-cried. v-cried. It seemed to me that 1 was1 H idlng the s;on of another girl And T, h. how sorr;. 1 felt for her, not so' iifc much because she ma) have had a iVM little more than her share of the trou ble of this world but because she had.' to go through all the experiences all iy J the heartbreaks, all the disappoint-' ri ft ments which youth must endure to ii fl reach sure compensation that maturity "It M It s such a long time since I wrote ; .J this story In this little book that 1 had forgotten many of the episodes rec- Jm orded In It As I read it over. I be- , Move that I will give It to Mary oti 'twfl the eve of her maTrlagi T Mary has never known anv other, lB; father than Karl Shepard Almost her HK first wonH were Daddy Karl" and I" i jp her K.ni has been the must indulgent LJ' and devoted of fathers just .1 he has W bc-en the most Indulgent and devoted " of husbands to me. I turn to the last entry thai I made! in this Journal and find that I hav-?' k recorded Alice's suggestion that after M nearly a year's nip around tti world, n . should home so thai her bab; H might be born in the house Which her' jSrel husband hart purchased from me at I . ?ifsm tne l'm0 of Johns death That was; Ti$inM twenty years ago Today I am near) i $rB fifty years old. There are mam ,';:;; SB threads of while among my auburn locks and the Kray at Karl's templet ; has spread all over his head. Karl h a very hundsome man. they tell me of coprae I wOUld think so. And yet I'm (tolng to v. rltf here for you, Mary 'that 1 have never seen as handsome i man as your own father. John Cordon Cor-don Wnh that thouglit In mind. 1 wrdti the following message t,, m daughl Mary to present to her with my Journal Jour-nal The li Iter read. My Beloved I'aughler Sometime, , dear, 1 almost wish that John Gordon Gor-don had never met me that fate had not sent him to the little country place when- we met and that w should not hae been taken off our feet bj mutual magnetism arid mutual youth. Then mj dear daughter, per-lrp;- he would hae married Kli7.abct h Jaoreland, who was his chlldhoo i s sweetheart and they would have been happy together. Hut after all. the sadness, sad-ness, traged and pnln I cannot fully subscribe to that wish, for f.ite gave me one great kindness, one Inestimable Inestim-able boon when she placed you my dear Mary, In my arms. When you read this little book, my dear daughter, do not jump to the Quick conclusion of J outh that your father wis wholly to blame. I to mutt bear my share of the consequences 'f our mutual mistake. looking back I think 1 was a little bit stubborn yes more than a little bit, I made no allowance al-lowance for vour father's bringing up I was just as decided In ms own mind that my ways wen- best, as he was ir. his mind that his was the only right Way. You see, my dear, nature Is n wonderful magician she mesmerises the whole World with thoughts of love She makes two people coalesce forget nil the sties of life and move about in the glorious dreams "f imagination. Not until marriage does nature allow thm to think sanely, without emotion and then having brought them together, togeth-er, hrr work Is done and she goes on looking about for other men and women wo-men to pair And that Is the reason, mv dear child, that marriage Is different dif-ferent from what we call love M.ir-riage, M.ir-riage, like love. ! only an Incident of life, a ver different Incident but one that we ina. n:ike very happy or one which, through ur mistaken Ideas WC can turn into o torture chamber In which we must live "until death do us part." romniTon idvlrc t Daughter Mti r. . |