244 A FINALITY. 



common sense and practical fact. Admit that a woman, 

 when she becomes a wife does not become a mere nonentity, 

 or I leave you to jonrney alone.' . 



< Very well, my dear, let us see if we cannot compromise 

 this matter. Suppose we allow his philosophy to stand as a 

 general truth, making you an exception. We'll say that 

 wives in general are nobody, but that you shall be exempt 

 from the general rule, and be considered always hereafter, 

 and as between ourselves, as somebody.' 



"You see the shrewdness of my proposition. Firstly, it 

 saved BLACKSTONE : secondly, it saved me, let me down easy ; 

 and thirdly, it appealed to the womanly vanity of my wife, 

 and it took. 



" ' Oh, well,' she said, as she brought her pony alongside 

 of me, and we jogged along cosily together, ' I see no ob- 

 jection to that. Other wives can take care of themselves. 



But this compromise, as between us, Mr. W , must be a 



finality. No Nebraska traps, Mr. W . No Kansas 



bills hereafter. It must be a finality, mind.' 



" ' Very well,' said I ; and a robin that was building its 

 nest on a limb that hung over the road, paused in its labors, 

 and burst into song, and the burden of its lay seemed to be 

 a compromise, which, in truth, should be a FINALITY. 



" We were successful in our fishing, and we followed the 

 old-fashioned custom as to bait. We discarded the fly, using 

 only the angle-worm. At the foot of the ripples ; under the 

 old logs ; where the water went whirling under the cavern- 

 ous banks ; in the eddies ; among the driftwood ; every- 



