Elizabeth-Town gazette. [volume] (Elizabeth-Town, N.J.) 1818-1821, 1819-08-03

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 by the thunderbolt,
cling round it with its csressing 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 10 his happier hours,
should be his stay and soIace when smitten
with sudden calamity, winding herself into
the rugged recesses of his nature, tenderly
supporting the dropping head, and bind
ing up the broken heart.
| was once congratulating friend, who
had around him a blooming family, knit
together in the strongest affection. can
wish you no better lot" said he, with en-
thusiasm, than to have wife and chill
dren-if You are prosperous, there they
are to share your prosperity if otherwise,
they are to comfort you" And, indeed,
| have observed that married men falling
into misfortune, are more apt to retrieve
their situation 10 the world than single
men; partly because they are more slim
ulated TO exertion by the necessities of the
| helpless and beloved beings who depend
upon them for subsistence but chiefly
because their spirits are sootbed and re-
lieved by domestic endearments, and their
seif-respect kept alive by finding, that
though all abroad is darkness and humili-
alton, yet there is still little world of
love, of which they are monarchs. Where
as the single man is apt to run to waste
and seli-neglect:-to fancy himself lonely
and abandoned, and his heart to fall to
ruin like some deserted mansion, for want
OF an inhahitant.
These observations call to mind little
domestic story, of which / was once a
witness. My intimate friend, Leslie, had
married beautiful and accomplished girl,
who had been brought up 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 in
dulging her in every elegant pursuit, and
administering to those elegant tastes and
fancies, that spread kind of witchery
about the sex. "Her life" said he, "shall
be like fairy tale"
| The very difference in their characters
produced an harmonious combination; he
was of romantic, and somewhat serious
cast; she was all life and gladDess.
have often noticed the mute rapture with
which he would gaze upon her 10 compa
ny, of which her sprightly powers made
her the delight; and bow, in the midst of
applause, her eye would still turn to him
as if there alone she sought favor and ac-
ceptance. When leaning on his arm, her
slender form contrasted finely with his
tall, manly person. 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
helplessness. Never did couple set for.
ward on the Aowery path of early and
well-suited marriage with fairer prospect
of felicity.
1t wasthe mishap ofmy friend, however,
to have embarked his fortunes 10 large
specuIations and be had not been mar
ried many months, when, by succession
of sudden disasters, it was swept from him,
and he found himself reduced almost to
penury. For time he kept bis situation
to himself, and went about with haggard
countenance, and breaking heart. His
life was but protracted agony; and what
rendered it more insupportable, was the
necessity Of keeping up smile in the
presence Of his wife; for he could not
bring himself to overwhelm her with the
news. She saw, however, with the quick
eyes Of affection that all was not well with
him. She marked his altered looks and
stifed signs, and was not TO be deceived,
by his sickly and vapid attempts at cheer
fulness. She tasked all her sprightly
powers and tender Establishments to win
him back to happiness; but she only drove
the arrow deeper into his soul. The more
he saw cause to love her, the more tor
turing was the thought that he soon was
to make her wretched. A little while,
thought he, and the smile will vanish from
that cheek--the song viii die away from
those Ips--the Iustre of those eyes will be
ouenched with sorrow; and the happy
heart which now beats lightly in that Boz
som. will be weighed down, like mine, by
!, the cares and miseries of the world.
}, At length he came to me one day, and
related his whole situation in tone of the
. deepest despair. When | had heard him
: through, / enquired, " does your wife
Fl know all this ?" At this question he burst
? into an agony Of tears. "For Gods
t sake /" cried he, +" if you have any pity
9 on me don't mention my wife; it is the
/ thought of her that drives me almost to
: madness !"