Sarah Orne Jewett (Short Story Date 1882)

SOURCE: Jewett, Sarah Orne. "Tom's Husband." LEGACY 7 (spring 1990): 30-7.

In the following short story, originally published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1882, Jewett addresses the question of female liberation in marriage.

I shall not dwell long upon the circumstances that led to the marriage of my hero and heroine; though their courtship was, to them, the only one that has ever noticeably approached the ideal, it had many aspects in which it was entirely commonplace in other people's eyes. While the world in general smiles at lovers with kindly approval and sympathy, it refuses to be aware of the unprecedented delight which is amazing to the lovers themselves.

But, as has been true in many other cases, when they were at last married, the most ideal of situations was found to have been changed to the most practical. Instead of having...