New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-03-26

tbeTp g TneOTCAI
49, ei;cted whetherss amessengero the Prince
Fp-aca or a Slater If Charity-Rnd yet De honor.
III in all things she should so comport herself
hat her best and truest wOmaohood should o9
developed. aud she he honorable, and nonore1 Ia
II ard finally, that if ia the maturity other bean
" and che clearnes Of her intellect she be ds-
posed 10 csrry all this sillueGoe Of nature utO the
divine relation Of marriage, she should b still
honorable Dot a reAet Of anothers glory bat
rs of herself, lending aud receiving.
II appears TO me we need less OF legislation Ia
regard 70 orr sex than OF enlightened puolc oPln'
ion. Whether we wear this or tnat costume, or
90 to the polls or stay away, seems OF less on
portance than q radical understanding Of our true
selves Let Us assert first the reverence due US
as a portion of the moral and intellectual type,
and gradually we shall take that symmetrical %.
sition in human affairs which is for the best gool
Of the world-certainy we shall have other anu
better influence than We now have
] am aware that the large class OF the oenersex,
enrattured with the sensuaities OF Moore aad III
only TO admire bread and butter glrls," Will op-
pose this theory of Marriage. II is the style to
prate of" sweet sixteen and to talk OF tne love
ness Of girbood-and most lovely IS II, ana ga
cred should it be held and therefore the woman
should not be defrauded the period she should
not be allowed 10 step from the baby house to the
marriage altar. IL shoald be considered not only
unwise to do so. but absolutely indelicste. IL
should afix odium to parents and guardians'.n
done Dy Lnetr lQbIumcukatitti ~ II ~ wv ~" 20
the girl, be regarded as an e0'dence 81 Pfec0ct0uS
deUeiopmezt as uncbaSte as II as un1o1se.
1t is a popular error that our sex are earlier de-
veloped than the other and therefore soonest
adapted to marriage This, however, - plySloio-
gcal ground upon which | do not wish % dl5ressi
but the assertion that women decay earlier es2e'
cially ia this country where early marriages 50
much prevail, is unfortunately troe and trato
that ought nat to apply to as where the iatsllecI
IS active al least if NOS profound And this decay
uDquestiOnably to be imputed 20 this source
Girls are married and peTplsXe with the cares oil
housekeeping when the pretty ordering oil the
wee things of tho play house would DC la 0o5
ter keeping they suiier the snxefies and sorrows
Of maternity at an age ptiiul TO conte nplase
when they should be singing Ike tho ark %
Heavens gate, in the very exubeFance Of youth
fu life, and the oyOusness Of Innocent emotion
Even admitting that some slight STRINGS OF the
heart should remind her, that she has well
spring Of happy affection, it does not follow that
she ahould be put into bondage for the rest OF her
life to one whom the undeveoped girl may affect,
but whom the woman may perhaps desplse. boy
has it may be, dozen Of undying," never to
be forgotten" experiences Of the kind, between
the ages of IL and %, and yet shakes them of like
"dew from the lions msne,' and looks ~, alter
each trial, if there is to be any manhood IN hin,
with better and stronger humanity; but II q
lovely, susceptible girl, always kept in Ignorance
of her own nature, responds in the slightest de-
gree to the promptings Of her heart she must be
married as ifher heart were an elfervesci0g vine,
good for nothing ifa sparkle escape and not rather
a deep and holy fountain Of calm waters aud
beautiful springs. making glad the wilderness Of
life, refreshing the arid desert Of hearts worn and
hackneyed by the toll and heat of the day in the
wayfaring OF the world
That a woman should be past all Joy, an1 bean
ty, and hOpefulness, az a period when the other
ser are in the perfection Of their powers, Is q
most lamentable fact and one utterly Mt variance
kba Iaoiopa IF IN did not q hnr
for the one purpose of the family relation bat TO
share in that freedom Of being aud joyfulness OF
life which is his gift to all, and dOubly so to be-
ing created with such exquisite perfection and af
nuence Of susceptibility as her own Organization
involves Il is not unusual for girls to be married
and become mothers at fifteen, at the expense OF
health, happiness, and ali the appropriateness and
dignity of life, and men seem quite proud OF these
baby wives, when in truth they should blush at
their selhsbness, as they too often VIII repent over
theirls Of forecast. 1t is these early marriages
that has produced 80 many crimes and outrageS
ia society. | remember few years since, the
public was outraged by the cruel murder of a vile
and two children by the husband and father, in
the upper part of this State. j DO not recoliec'
the name, but the STATE of mind which the COMES
siOns Of the unhappy man implied impressed me
greatly. He had been induced, when boy OF
twenty or twenty one, to marry woman very
much bis senior, from motives OF property snd,
finding the relation ungenal aud repugnant 70
BIN, IL so wrought upOu his yea ~ 1SN'i
that species OF ins snity was undoubtedly the re-
suit and in this state he made the resolve not
only 10 kill her and her children bat also al Sho
were instrumentain bringing about the III starred
marriage.
The protracted and unwearyng eriers resulting
from ungenin relations, ia fruitful source OF in
sanity and these uugenial relations will DE tOuut
in almost all cases 70 have been those formed
when one of the parties was too young to fully
comprehend the magnitude of interest involved
remember WREN a child having a confused idea
that 10 be murdered was one Of - 'ible con-
tinge ncies of marriage; and was
created solely by reading in / the
many atrocious catalogues Of thu A.41. remsn
ber too, the story Of a refined New England w0
man, married to man much older than herself
hard, incorporating, respectable man, upright
in the eyes of :he world. and an exact church
member, who while her husband was Decorating
prayer, by pouring out those hacSneyed plat
indies in which SO many indulge arose suddenly
from her knees and laid her hand upon his mouth
saying: "You hypOcrite, how dare you mock God
ia this way I"
SIZE was shortly after carried to a hospital in
which she still remains a hopeless luustic. The
friends were suitably shocked, and p'tied him for
his misfortune, but no one saw into the sOul OF
things, where they might have learned of the
years Of suffering the wife msst have endured
from his sel6shness aud intangible ialsehood.
Miss Dix must have q perfect mass Of material
on this ground and God bless her for her noble
mission, one peculiarly adapted TO the instructive
and beautiful perceptions Of womanhood More
than one story OF suffering Of this kind is fresh Ia
nov memory No. far from Portland, Ne. the
wife Of wealthy man was for years confined ina
small room, bnilt up in the garden. and chained
condemned TO hopeless solitude, aud treated like
a Gagged animal in the very youth of her existence
/ was but G child when heard her story and bad
the spot pointed out to me Tire relator finished
the details by a remark often made, That the
insane always turn against their best friends aud
that she could not endure to have her husband
approach her; word from him produced the most
frightfal paroxysm Of her disease"
This was most significant. the fact of the story
A.. Al. IL. c.f4 fasr-