n the poor or distressed, or a
kind word upon the absent. Vituperation and calumny were her constant
weapons; and one would imagine, by the frequency and bitterness with
which she wielded them, that she was in a state of perpetual warfare
with society. Such, indeed, was the case; but the evils which resulted
from her wanton and indefensible aggressions upon private character
almost uniformly recoiled upon her own head; for, as far as her name
was known, she was not only unpopular, but odious. Her husband was a man
naturally fond of peace and quietness in his own house and family and,
rather than occasion anything in the shape of domestic disturbance,
he continued to treat her intemperate authority sometimes with
indifference, sometimes with some sarcastic observation or other, and
occasionally with open and undisguised contempt. In some instances,
however, he departed from this apathetic line of conduct, and turned
upon her with a degree of asperity and violence that was as impetuous as
it was decisive. His reproaches were then general, broad, fearful; but
these were seldom resorted to unless when her temper had gone beyond
all reasonable limits of endurance, or in defence of the absent or
inoffensive. It mattered not, however, what the reason may have been,
they never failed to gain their object at the time; for the woman,
though mischievous and wicked, ultimately quailed, yet not without
resistance, before the exasperated resentment of her husband. Those
occasional victories, however, which he gained over her with reluctance,
never prevented her from treating him, in the ordinary business of life,
with a systematic exhibition of abuse and scorn. Much of this he bore,
as we have said; but whenever he chose to retort upon her with her own
weapons in their common and minor skirmishes, she found his sarcasm too
cool and biting for a temper so violent as hers, and the consequence
was, that nothing enraged her more than to see him amuse himself at her
expense.

This woman had a brother, who also lived in the same neighborhood, and
who, although so closely related to her by blood, was, nevertheless, as
different from her in both character and temper as good could be from
evil. He was wealthy and generous, free from everything like a worldly
spirit, and a warm but unostentatious benefactor to the poor, and
to such individuals as upon inquiry he found to be entitled to his
beneficence. His wife had, some years before, died of