Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1848-01-06

fering from severe pain had been wor-
ried and excited with the children, and
worse than all, her husbands unsympa-
thysing and unleeling conduct had made
her feel wretched. Is it any wonder
that she felt i'll ; or that when Mr.. Lun-
dy returned in the evening, he should
find her in n condition requiring medical
treatment
The doctor was called in. lie did
not understand her case. How could
he The medicine he gave created a
strong Revision in her system, and did
her actually more harm than good. She
was confined two weeks to her cham
her, and then went forth again into her
household, weaker and more nervously
sensitive than before, to direct, control
and minister to the wants Of her ever
wanting, ever active children, and to
wait upon her husband, consult his tastes,
and bear his complaints whenever any
thing that went wrong in the household
abridged his comfort in the smallest de-
gree.
Not less than three or four times in
a year, was Mrs. Lundy made sick in the
way described. When she was bending
under the burden that was too heavy for
her, her husband, instead Of tightening,
as he might easily have done, the load,
or given her strength to bear it, laid on
the additional weight that crushed her
to the earth.
But no one expected this not even
Mr.. Lundy himself. The idea that he
was numbering his wife by a slow and
cruel death, would have shocked him !;
and he would have felt the nlimation of
such thing as an objectionable outrage.
, And yet such was really the fact. He
was numbering her.
t Year after year, her duties and her
Toll increased. The history of a day
that we have given, was an epitomized
history of her life. Mr.. Lundy, wrap
ped up in his schemes of gain, and RI
, gid in his notions of order, punctuality,
8 formal proprieties, had no real sympathy
r for his wife, and was ever complaining
g of the little Irregularities incident to his
household, and ever adding to, instead
: of relieving, the oppressive, wearying
r and ever recurring duties that were bear
Il ing her down. 1t was common thing
| for him, robust and in high health, to sit
c in his easy chair, with dressing gown and
= slippers, and ask his tired wife, who
: could scarcely move without feeling pain
IN, bn, I'D IA hnt ha al
u TO ring the bell for the servant, or even
( TO 90 up TO their chamber and bring hin
> 90 "a $40 f-s.r-s :, dra .s.i.:-il ~
was not willing thai domestic should
4 go.
Meeker, more patient, more loving in
, her character, grew Mrs. Lundy. BY
: suffering, she was purified Ii made the
heart ache to sec her moving by the side
) of her erect, florid, elastic-treading hus-
r band, more like pale, shadowy form,
than real substance and to feel as
sured, that in very little while, the pla-
ces that knew her, and the children and
friends who loved her, would know her
and love her no more
f.. At last she died, and six little ones
were left without the a1ectionate care of
{ mother. If her husband, who wept so
{. bitterly over her too early grave, did not
s murder her, we know not the meaning
: of the work murder. When it was TOO
= late, he could remember her long suffer-
: ing, her patience, her wrongs received
f at his hands; but while she lived, he was
S too selfish to appreciate or properly care
for her.
Everywhere, in books of domestic
S economy, in tales, essays, newspaper par
e agraphs, aud in current conversation do
= We hear iterated and reiterated the les
son of woman's duty TO her husband
t, and in her household. She must have
# everything in order, and study the art o.
i pleasing her lord as sedulously as if he
p were the most captious, exacting tyranI
is in the world. And, verify, in his small
is way, he too often is miserable tyrant
+; A woman is expected 10 be perlec, il
re everything, and to do everything. NJ
allowance is made for the i'll health con
is sequent upon her maternal duties no
., for the peculiar, wearying, and alien
crossing nature OF the cares attendan
I thereon. But who writes and talks O
i. the husbands duties Who teaches
him lessons of forbearance, patience, anC
e. kind consideration for his overtaskeG
wife? Little is said on this score III,
7 world goes on, and hundreds, like Mrs
y Lundy, go down 10 the grave years be
fore their time, and no one dreams tina
lie their husbands are accessories to thei
at de,th. But il is even so. Not in ma
ut ternal duties alone lies the cause of thu
A wife's pale face and dropping form, bu
m in the over-tasks of her peculiar position
lis She is worked too hard--harder than
slave 10 the cotton field Too often sh
lis is nurse and sempstress for halt dozeI
or children, and superintendent of he
d. household besides. She will bend over he
or needle night after night, in pain, or SUI
in foring from lassitude, while her HUSBAND
ke sits enjoying his volume by her side, no