Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1819-09-11
from Ire =" Sketch Boos," late publication.
TIE WIFE.

The treasures of the deep are not so precious
AS are the concealed comforts Of man
Locked up in woman's love. | scent the air
Gfblessings, when | come but near the house.
What delicious breath marriage sends forth,
The violet beds not Observation-Disclosures
have often had occasion to remark
the fortitude with which women sustain
the NEST overwhelming reyerses of for
tune. Those disasters which break
down the spirits oil man, and PROSTATE
him in the dust, seem to call forth all
the energies of the softer seq, and give
such intrepidity and elevation TO their
character, that at times it approaches to
sublinity. Nothing can be more touch
ing than to behold soft ard tender fe-
male, who had been all weakness and
dependence, and alive to every trivial
roughness, while treading the prosper
GUS paths of life, suddenly rising in men
tai force, to be the comforter and sup
porter of her husband, under misfortune,
and abiding, with unshrinking firmness,
the bitterest blasts of adversely.
AS the vine which has long twined its
graceful foliage around the oak, and
been lifted by it into sunshine, will, when
the hardy plant is rifted b. the thunder
bolt, cling round it with its caressing
tendrils, and bind up its shattered
boughs; so it is beautifully ordered by
Providence, that woman, who is the
mere dependant and ornament of man i'll
his happier hours, should be his stay
,,l,n, ,tea,, with cu6r ,t,
calamity, winding herself into the rug
ged recesses of his nature, tenderly sup
porting the dropping head, and binding
up the broken heart.
/ was once congratulating a friend,
who had around him blooming family,
knit together in the strongest affection,
Al can wish you no better LOTT said he,
with enthusiasm, " than to have wife
and children--if you are prosperous,
there they are to share your prosperity !;
If otherwise, there they are to comfort
YOU" And, indeed, have observed
that married men, falling into misfor-
tune, are more apt to retrieve their
situation in the world than single men :
partly because they are more stimulated
to exertion by the necessities of the help
less and beloved beings who depend up
on them for subsistence; But chiefly be-
cause their spirits are soothed and re-
lieyed by domestic endearments, and
their self-respcct kept alive by finding,
that though all abroad is darkness and
humiliation, yet there is still little
world of love, of which they are mon
archs. Whereas single man is apt to
run to waste and sell-neglect; to fancy
himself lonely and abandoned, and his
heart to fall to ruin like some deserted
mansion, for want of an inhabitant.
These observations call to mind a
little domestic story, of which / was
once a witness. My intimate friend,
Leslie, had married a beautiful and ac-
conplished girl, who had been brought
ND in the midst of fashionable life. She
had, it is true, no fortune, but that of my
friend was ample; and he delighted in
the anticipation of indulging her in
every elegant pursuit, and administering
to those delicate tastes and fancies, that
spread kind of witchery about the sex.
"Her life" said he, shall be like a
fairy ta!e.'
The very difference in their charac-
tiers produced an harmonious combina-
ton: he was of romantic and some
what serious cast; she was all life and
gladness. | have often noticed the mute
rapture with which he would gaze upon
her in company, of which her sprightly
powers made her the delight; and how,
in the midst of applause, her eye would
still turn to him, as if there alone she
sought favor and acceptance. When
leaning on his arm, her slender form
oontrasted finely with his tall manly per-
son. The fond confding air with which
she looked up to him, seemed to call
forth flush of triumphant pride and
cherishing tenderness, as if he doated on
his lovely burthen for its very helpless
ness. Never did couple set forward
on the flowery path of earlS and well
suited marriage with fairer prospect
offelicity.
1t was mishap of my friend, how
ever, to have embarked his fortune III
large speculations and he had not been
married many months, when, by sue
cession of sudden diasters, it was swept
from him, and he found himselfreduced
almost to perjury. For time he kept
his situation to himself, and went about
with a haggard countenance and a bro
ken heart. His life was but aprotracted
agony; and what rendered it more in
s,lrnnrtahle. was the necessity OF keep