Litchfield enquirer., 1834-09-25
THE TRUE CAUSE OF BAD WIVES uNFoLDED.
 BY GRANT THoRBvRN. Also hiS opinions 0f Bachelors.

unhappy marriage but where the improper conduct of the husband lay at the root of the evil. The temper of woman must be very bad indeed, if a man of sense can't lead her along. h is contrary to a wo- mans nature to be driven but by kind- ness and persuasion you may lead her any where.
 Those pests of society--the bachelors of 40, as an apology for their sins of omis- sion, and their sins of commission, in trans |gressing alike against the laws of nature and natures God, will assert that they are afraid of being caught in the matrimonial trap, seeing so many promising young la dies have made very indifferent wives, and very bad housekeepers. This, l say a. gain, is a mere excuse; besides, it is a downright islander. can say, from thir- ty-seven years experience and observation in these matters, that Eever saw a bad wife except there was first bad husband.
 When two arc yoked together, they must calculate to draw equal, if they expect to get along easy. In the higher walks of life, (for there believe the daughters of 1 Eve suffer more keenly for the sins oftheir f grandmother than they do in the lower,) I have seen the young, accomplished wife, before twenty moons had waned since she changed her name, sitting lone and solita- ry as the sparrow upon the house tOp.- Perhaps her health was now delicate, the nourishing aud cherishing care of her hus- band was almost necessary to her exis- tence but he was gone, gone to some po- litical, literary, or may be some jockey club. Perhaps he returns at midnight, breathing the fumes of wine, and sleaming with the smoke of cigars, a pretty sort of a fellow to be sure. How unequal the yoke to a young lady of twenty2 And yet he has the confidence to account himself a suitable companion to q sensible, delicate, well educated female. Such usage, and
 worse, when often repeated, will sour the temper of any woman, though naturally as sweet as the dew-drop appending to a
 mountain rose. l have heard the eloquent
 Dr. Mason assert from the pulpit, tha, there
 were more ways of breaking woman's
 heart than breaking her head.
 Again, in the lower walks of life, have
 I seen delicate little woman, she was clean and neat about her house, her per- son and her dress, but yoked to great lump of a fellow, with an arm as big as the leg and the hand as heavy as the foot of ian OK. He was by trade curricr of hides,
 a profound politician, a thorough reformer,
 and warm friend of the people-and so completely was he filled with disintcres- ted love for all mankind, that he had not one particle left to bestow on his wife and children for every night as the sun went down, would he, after scrubbing his own
 hide, and drinking his tea, adjourn himself off to tho Indian Wigwam, or Tammany
 Hall, and there would he harangue, ca- jole, rebuke and debate, until the going
 down of the moon; and having made the science of political economy and national government his study from his youth up,
 he was positively never able to spare a
 moment of his time to think how he should govern Himself or his osoH house.
 . In these long, long winter nights, there sat his pretty little wife, her pale and in. } teresting face yet more pale from the flick ering light of the lamp, there she sat; one child asleep on her lap, her foot on ihs cradle rocking the babe, and at the same
 time mending his coat or alarming his stock. ings. About 12, P. M. his heavy foot i. heard on the stairs his head buoyant a. , the balloon, from the fumes of ale and the
 smoke of cigars. Rough and uncouth as her portion of animated clay appeared, she : yet welcomes him with smile. Han, says he, (her name was Hannah) 'have you got any thing to eatg' Softly raising the child from her lap, and deposi.ing it on the bed, she went quietly about placing
 something on the table to fill his capacious jaws. As the cradle stood still the babe began to stir. 'John,' said she, please tc turn the cradle liltle.' Rock the era. de yourself, and be hanged to you!' and
 struiting across the floor in all the swell O
 strong stin,ulance and self importance Rock the cradle yourseIl-I am one O ;, the lords of creatiOn!' A lord of creatioI n indeed. 1t is enough to make the devi Q blush.
 . But to return to the gentleman in higl life, and the mechanic in low life. Hat if the former s.aid at home, when his part d ner was indisposed and unable to accom- - pany him abroad, had he with his own han. e held the medicine cup to her lips-had h. h sat by her bed and conversed, or read [, IF her from some entertaining book, (as h,
 was in duty bound) he would never hav' IS cause to complain of sour tempered wife # And had the latter kept at home at night L and assisted his true yoke fellow to nuysl