The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1845-02-05
AChapter on Widows.

:
! Fuller says, in his Holy State tina
the good widows grief for her husband
though real, is moderate > and it is GU
object 10 illustrate the old divine's text b.
two famous and most ancient stories bu
we would in the first place offer few re
marks upon the species ridou.
lfwidow be derived from the Latir
uiduus, void, then Mr.. Weller the elder
pronunciation, vidder, is the most ely
biological. We are, however, far from
sharing that gentleman's feelings toward
those ladies'. the cleverest of their sex
We love widows. We gain by their loss
And the roidto US, and we fear to them
is any thing but an aching void
In society Miss is not TO make pun
amiss. Your sixteens and seventeens are
always at skies and sevens among the men.
They are so walled about by what is
proper and what is not proper, that they
can do nothing but sit bolt upright with
their arms folded. Their sitting, walking,
riding, dancing, talking, are ali carefully
graduated to the proper They start
when you speak to them, as pigeon does
when it sees hawk, and take hold of a
mans arm as though he were made Of
phoshorus and are bound to look silly
and take refuge under mammals wings,ii
the air be tainted by the ghost of pos.
sihle improperly. In Spanish society
young ladies are danced with, but never
spoken to; but no more of them.
! But widow, as soon as the becoming
sorrow is over, which soon takes place, is
always gay, always char ming
In the first place, the widow salt riure
She knows how to talk to men and
how to treat them. In the second, she
does what she pleases, and Miss Scandal
has to shrek, Chow improper !" in a
whisper. In the third place. she never
grows old. A spins er is on the wane a,
five-and-twen;y, and at forty, even Echo
would be afraid to answer her, for fear
she should consider it an offer: but wild
ow at thirty is Oh the "wax," and in her
prime at forty at least so says the song.
We wonder that all women do not wish
they were born widows and that failing,
and the occasion presenting inseif, do not
emulate the fifty Misses Danaus, in the
mythology, who in their haste to become
widows, stabbed their husbands on the
wedding night.
The Rev. DIR. Sterne remarks, that
''the Lord tempers the wind to the shorn
lamb. " Bereaved married people must
be shorn lambs We have heard wild
ows fortnight after the sad event hum
ming Gal Gai! de profundis 81 widows
finding the breeze of most comfortable
temperature, and keeping upa cheerful
live man loving spirit behind their. impen,
etrabla black wells, Just as the sun shines
as brightly as ever behind the darkest
thundcr-cloud.
The first tale is that Of the Nairon o.
Ephesus, told with infinite spirit by Ii
Fontaine in his Contes. He took it from
Boccaccio. 1t is TO be found in Petro.
MUS, who had it from the Greeks. They
borrowed it from the Arabians, who in
their turn owe tito the Chinese. Du
Halde has il in his version The origin
of most of our every day stories is as
completely hidden in the obscurty of by
gone ages as the name ofthe inventor Of
the plough
Once upon time there lived in Ephe-
sus a LADY renowned for her beauty and
for her wit. but most of all for her intense
affection for her husband. Mothers cited
her as an example to their daughters, and
husbands were forever singing her praises
to their wives In short the town esteem
cd itself lucky in possessing within its
walls such model of virtue. But alas
the husband died. Far from being con-
soled by will full of legacies in her ia
vor, the widow abandoned herself 10 the
most distressing grief, and sobbed and
groaned so bitterly and soloudly, that all
the neighborhood was in tears. Frantic
with her loss, she resolved to descend in
TO the tomb with her husband, and to die
on his bosom. A faithful maid servant
accompanied her, after til ing in vain to
bring back her mistress to the love oil
life.-She wished to feed her eyes to the
last upon the bier of the diseased, and
this was the only aliment she intended to
allow herself. One day passed in signing
and weeping, and her grief omitted moth
ing which is necessary in such casts.
Another dead body was lodged not far
from this tomb, but very differently. His
monument was gallows, and himself his
only epitaph-a warning to all thieves
A soldier watched him mig hit and day and
was threatened with instant death IT the
body was removed. During 1.-THE night,
the sentin ell perceived TO his great sur
prise light flashing through the crew
ices of the tomb; and stealing toward it,
heard many soft abs and dtas's. Enter
ing, he was amazed to see two pretty
women in tears. and inquired politely
what motive could induce them to IN
habit so melancholy an abode! The
widow did not of course deign TO answer,
but the servant explained TO him that
they had resolved to starve themselves to
death for love of the diseased. The
soldier explained as well as he was able,
what life was, and asked leave to take his
supper in their presence, ifthey would
eat nothing themselves. They gave him
per mission. Animated by the beauty OF