Litchfield enquirer., 1830-12-23
OLD MAIDS.

! We never could, for the life Oi us, perceive why old maids should manifest such mortal antipathy to old bachelors. There IS no reason in their wrath. 'Tis spitefnl, cruel and uncalled fOr-the trainp- ling on reed already broken. It is abu- sing man for the fault of hisadestiny. It is like fiogging cripple with his own crUtches because he is lame. Few men arc bachelors of their own free will. Go to the veriest Misanthrope among them, and ask him of his history, and he will tell yo" ofthe unforgotten hours ofhis early af- lection; and his eyes will light up again with it's wonted energy, as he relates the story of his love, for one who had perhaps proved taithless, or whose affections were repressed by the rude hand of arbitrary au. thority, or who had gone down to the sleeping of the chnrch-yard-a beautiful bud plncked from the tree of Bsing, to open and expand in brighter and holier sun- shine, where no worm could gnaw at its bosom, and nO blighting descend upon it. Talk not to US of the sorrows of old maids ]! They are light as air in compari- son to those of bachelors-the batting of the small rain to the overwhelming of the deluge. Old maids can commune togeth- CT, and miDgle irh the charities and kindly offices and sympathies of existence. 1t is not so with the bachelor. He has no home -he has no happy fireside-no child to ask his blessing-no beautiful creature of smiles and gentle tones to welcome his coming, and melt away the sternness of care with the warm kiss of aifection-no patient watcher at his couch Of sickness, stealing with husl,ed and gentle step around him, like the visitation ofa spirit. True-his sorrows are somewhat of negative char acter. But what is it save positive agony, for I'im to gaze, all his life long, upon the Paradise of Matrimony, like half starved school-boy upon the garden whose enclos- ure he cannot scale2-Hartford Rcvieso.
 Ltilitayiaaism.-The dislike of the Westminster Reviewers to polite literature was only the old exploded puritanic ohjec- ton to human learning. Names and modes of opinion charged. but human na- ture was much the same. I know notl.- ing of the persons you speak of, said Northcote but they must be fools if they expect to get rid of the showy and super6- cial, and let only the solid and useful re- main. The surface is a part of nature, and will always continue sO. Resides, how many useful inventions owe their existence to ornamental contrivances! If the in- genuity and industry of man were not task- ed to produce luxuries, we should soon bs without necessaries. We must go back to the savage state. myself am as little pre- judiced in favor of poetry as almost any one can be-; but surely there are things in poetry that the world cannot afford to do without. What is of absolute necessity is only part; and the next question is, how to occupy the remainder of our time and thoughts (not SO employed) agreeably and innocenlly. Works of fiction and poetry are of incalculable use in this respect. lf people did not read the Scotch novels, they would not read Mr. Bentham's philOs- ophy. There is nothing to mo moro disa- which falls under the same article. They object to cOlors and why do they object to colorsl Do we not see that Nature de- lights in them? Do we not sec the same purpose of prodigal and ostentatious dis play run through all her worksl Do we not find the most beautiful and dazzling co. lors bestowed on plants and flowers, on the plumage of birds, on fishes and shells, even to the very bottom of the sea? All thi. profusion of ornament, we may be sure, j. not in vain. To judge otherwise, is to fy in the face of Nature, and substitute an ex- elusive and intolerant spirit in the place oi philosophy, which includes the greatest va riety of mans wants and tastes, and makes all the favorable allowances it can. The quaker will not wear clored clothes ; though he would not have coat to his back if men had never studied any thing but the modification oftheir appeiites and desires. But he takes care of his personal conven- fence by wearing good piece of broad cloth, and gratifies his vanity, not by finery. but by having it of a different cut from eve- ry body else, so that he may seem better and wiser than they. Yet this humor. too, is not without its advantages it serves to correct the contrary absurdity. look up- On the quaker aud the fop as two sentinels placed by Nature at the twO extremes oi vanity and sel6shness, and to guard, as ii were, all the common sense and virtue that I lie between.
 | VISIT TO AN ARAB HAREM. One evening as I went upon the terrace to enjoy the fresh sea-bree2e which was
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