The spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1840-1844, 1842-06-24

solictous to please her On one point, she an
ticpated difference. Her parents had so plainly
told her of her faults and had abored so sedulous
ly to correct them, that she was conscious ofbeing
far from what she ought to he; consequently. her
husband would have much to overlook and forgive;
he on the contrary, was correct, so perfect, that
she would have little or nothing to excuse. But he
had loved her, and sought her for awiie, knowing
her to be a vcly imperfect creature, and would not
that love lead him TO pardon all errors, the more
readily, as they would not be wliul' Uuques-
tionably it would
With views and feelings and designs like these,
Helen Howard began her married lie ;and she con-
formed to her plan as nearly, perhaps, as ones &C
ton ever conforms TO ones resolutlon-one's prac
tice to ones theory. True, she did not find her
self always
Il I" Sailing on summers sea,
When not breath of wind flies DER its surface"
Some of her cares were irksome; some of her self
denals not little painful She found Mr. How
ard exceedingly particular. This, however, did
not surprise her; it was what she had anticlpa-
ted. How could one perfect in all things
principles, manners, iaste-flil oibeing particular?
But then it made it difficult to please him; and Of
times, she was in doubt whether the thing she de-
cided to do or the manner of doing it, would be
agreeable to him or not When possible, she al
he would have any choice, but frequently she was
obliged to act, when to consult hun was ont Of the
question; and somehow, il seemed to Helen, that
almost everything she did according to her own
Judgement or taste, was directly adverse to his
She had not lived with her husband many
months, before she learned that by particular
closing of his lips, she could tell when he was dis
pleased. For herself, she was child in feeling,
mild in temper, gentle and facnating in manne! !;
and after she had become acquainted with the
peculiariles of Mr. Towards disposition, she would
in his moments of displeasure, Irvine her arms a.
round his neck and ask for explanation, confess
her fault, and beg lorgivness. An acctionarc kiss
from him would dssipate all her uneasincss, and
lead to fresh efforts to please.
Mr. Howard did not always wait to have his dis
pleasure or dlsapprobation detected. As lime roll
ed on, and the bride was lost in the wife, he was
not slow, very plainly to tell her when he saw
aught amiss; but the process Of reconciliation fol-
lowed, and all was well again. Though Mr. How
ard could blame, he never praiSei lie was oflhe
opinion that praise is always injurious. lie was
not alone in that belief Many persons seem TO
think, that even the most meriied commentator
must induce vanity and pride. Pity is that some
who have embraced this view, were not equally
afraid of continual censure or even of SANDER and
detraction!
Let no one think, from the proceeding picture,
that Helen was an unhappy wife. She was far
from it. No one could be unhappy who loved and
respected husband us she loved and respected Mr.
Howard ,and who doubted not .ha, her affection was
reciprocated. There were only occasional clouds
that crossed the landscape, making the returning
sun beams seem still brighter.
Years as well as months glided away; and when
Helen was iour-and-twenty, she was the mother
ola son, daughter, and another son. In the
meantime, she had suffered severe allliction.-
Her mother had been taken away by death; but
she lived long enough 10 have all her fears aayed
as to her daughters felicity. She saw nothing,
heard nothing to lead her to doubt that it was as
perfect as could be expected in this imperfect world
Indeed, she knew not that so far as connubil hap
piness was concerned, a cloud had ever passed
over her daughters path; and il was long ere Hell
en- herself was aware, that the clouds we're darker
and more frequent, the sunshine rarer and of shor-
ter continuance. II was by slow degrees she
learned, that she must submit to her husband in
everything. The spending an evening in neigh
boris house-even the most trlling matters of taste,
must be rs much subjected to his CONTROL as the
most important transactions of life Helen cheer
fully acknowledged her husbands suprcmncy.--
Her mother had taught her, and the bible taught
her, tina, authority belonged to him. tina. it was
her duty, and would be for her happiness, to obey
in all things. Her alectionate heart prompted her to
this course but she was human being she nat
nraly had tastes and inc linations Of her own and
these were not always, Of course, in exact accord
ance with those Of another Sometimes in case Of
collision, she could not help feeling that if she
yielded on all important points, Mr. Howard might
occasionly yield in trifles. elf" she argued with
sigh, " he finds it so hard to conform to the wish.
es of another sometimes, why cannot he realize
how difficult it is for me to do it ai,rags ? If the
hal-iornIed thought arose in her mind, that her
husband was selfish, she instantly banished it,
"Oh no." she would say" he is not selfish!
Men are used TO authority, aud are not aware what
it oitenlimes costs the subject. | suppose, on this
point, they are all much alike" Perfect good ma
ture, and an unwilingness to detract nylling from
the perfection with which she had invested Mr.
Howard, led 20 this conclusion. Had Helen own
; father entered her mind at that moment, she mus,
have acknowledged, that between some men, there
was a striking contrast.
With this, however, Helen could have got along
very well. She had us little obsnacy as any OF
her species and it, in the moment Of trial, her
heart wonld sometimes REBEL the feeling was soon
gone, and she yielded with grace and cheeriuIness
That which was much harder to bear, was, tina,
as MIR Howard grew oder it was more difficult to
appease his dspleasure; and sometimes Helen
would have TO ask forgiveness, for some, perhaps
very trifing, naLvertency, two or three times be-
Tore the kiss of cordial reconciliation would be
granted. Beside this, she painted for commenda.
lion. From her own heart, it flowed spontaneous.
y; and however strong Mr. Towards objections
might be to bestowing praise on another, he never
manifested any repugnance to receiving it himself
Helen loved to praise her husband; she loved to
repeat to him the praise bestowed by others; it
greatly increased hel own happiness. But when
her special land sometimes iaboriOus efforts to do
that which she thought would give Mr. Howard pe-
cular satisfaction, would fail Of calling forth one
word OF commentator, One look of grateful sat-
isactlon-ai, even, of attracting observation, her
heart wonld sink with appointment, -and to be
quite happy, it was Indispensable that she should
be rery forgeym
But was MIR Howard the mpeccabe being his
wife was willing to believe him On the contra.
nv. he yns as FAR from /, M o.bor ,,oiI -,