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Show 165 Two days later as Ellis lies in bed pondering the problem of her ankle, Mrs. Wilson enters, followed by a lady who turns out to be Maggie. "We sprang into each other's arms while tears of joy fell thick and fast." Her one diary entry for October acknowledges her status as a candidate for graduation with many chances against her "with care of baby and all." Her next entry, seven weeks later, indicates that with two months more of college life gone, and "a good little nurse for Olea" she has managed better than she had expected and has "stored away very many new truths." Some surprising news comes to her from Milford. November 26th 1877 A day never to be forgotten for it has brought such glorious news from my dear husband. For months he has been studying Jaw and will be admitted to the bar next March. He has kept this a secret, thinking to surprise us in the spring, but he concluded to allow us to share in the hopeful joy that fills his heart. Oh, how thankful, how happy I am to know of this glorious change, to know that that noble loved one has at last entered a field wherein he will have full scope for the exercise of his rare and brilliant talents. Heaven bless him.16 The fact that Milford had been studying the law should have been no surprise to Ellis. As early as January of 1872, she mentioned rather wistfully in her diary that, since Milford had fitted up Maggie's room for his study of law, she would not be seeing even less of him. The surprise probably lay in the idea that he would soon qualify for the bar exam. She may have thought that in the almost six-year interval since he began his studies, he had abandoned them. |