Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1852-09-29
Written for The Spirit Of the Age.
G Irish Dreams Realized;
TIE FIVE BRIDALS.
Respectfully inscribed to the Young Ladies
@Norh Carolina.
BY LORA.
CHAPTER Observation-Disclosures.

OI1A1 LEN
"No, no, Leora above everything else :
upon earth, 1 would marry for talent. Not :
talent as it is commonly 50 designated, but
grasping and God-like in its nature-its
aspirations fixed upward and still upward,
until inferior minds would shrink back as
it were into very nothingness by compari-
son, and gaze %admiringly yet with envy
and awe upon the vastdistance his glorious
intellect had advanced him above the COM
mon herd. Nothing but genius like this,
dazzling in its very brilliancy, could re-
concile me to the dull routine of married
life with its attendant cares"
/" Your rich burst of enthusiasm is lost,
Ellen for light as you make of it, l still
maintain that | would marry sooner for
beauty of person and grace OF manners than
for any thing else"
"Fic, Loora; / thought Ihad made you
ashamed to assert that again. Marry for
beauty and grace! Never SO honor them.
They are sure to generate c~oxcombery and
vanity, despicable enough in young men,
but positively insufferable in a husband
and compared too with that lofty intellect
which is Heavens own gift, and which
must ever secure the highest admiration OF
the world-never Is it not glorious bear
inc SWAY over other minds ? Bending the
energies of immortal spirits to the will, and
guiding as you list the hearts impulses by
means of that unseen butmysterious power
attendant upon true genius Surely tins
alone was meant in the expression, Good
created man in his own image"
"And, pray, is not beauty the git OF
Heaven =? And as such, may it not with
propriety receive some portion of the worlds
homage? You are certainly at liberty to
call it inconsistent, absurd, or whatever else
YOU please, but / would indeed love to see
our sex gaze upon the countenance Of him
I had selected, with admiration stamped
upon their speaking features. And lwoul(
feel so exalted myself, to watch the varyin:
lights and shades playing enthusiastically a
cross that face which nature had labored t
clothe in every beauty-to study the work
ings of his broad expansive brow-searc
the depths of his lustrous eyes-gaze upo
the receding outline of his graceful form
and feel that he, the so highly gifted Of n;
ture, the envy of his sex and the favored
ours, was mine, all mine and that ever
pulsation of heart within that lordly brca
beat for me alone"
"Your aspirations are of the earth, earth
mine, like the unfettered eagle, reve
in the full blaze OF meridian glory and soa
with an undaunted eye where-
"Do suspend your preaching, Ellen, al
let me make my confession that the san
spirit of ambition, for, disguise it as "
will, nothing else generates these view
animates me also but wealth would
my strongest incentive to- the hyment
yoke" ,
"You do not mean, surely, Eliza, I'll
you would sell your heart and happin'
-fIrrF- mi -v1ruU r1tr oU, surcry-a
how much of the same hearts happin
entered into your plans Ellen asse
she would bear the name Of none, unless
blaze of his genius had flashed over so
portion ofthe world. And Leora's husba
elect must dazzle all beholders by the
perior brilliancy of his personal attraction
whilst the one | would call up from
misty shades of f%uturity, must materia
eclipse both, by the unapproachable h
which ever surrounds the brow of the we
thy"
"Wedon not shrink from the comparison
"Very well. You may descant III
doomsday upon the influence of intellc
and you may place all due reliance W
the principles of beauty in the human he;
but when the electric whisper passes aror
-" That is the millionaire 7" how impot
"tEs sPP~-m~A 1OaI say IA alVG.e.'s
vor, whilst the wrinkled visage and
wasted form pertaining to that stipend
attraction, will stand suddenly forth in,
ted with charms innumerable."
"And has loyo-strong, confding, I
tual afFection-nothing to do with your
turc dreams ?"
owe expect that to follow as a mat
of course therefore are we most conce
cd about the precedents."
ooh, horrible How can you posi-
reconcile to yourselves the idea of spend
n lifetime with one whom you have cho
solely upon the ground of his superior
in point Of intellect, beauty, or wealth
Can either of those possessions, dcsira
as they may be, satisfy the cravings O.
woman's heart !? Fill the dark void VIII
must ever exist until love has asserted
reign ? Or, will they possess the pow
Invested of the magic tones of affection
soothe the darker hours of life, allevi
the pangs of sickness, or make the rug.
pathway of married life smoother ?"
and pray, Emily, to continue y
string of inquiries, can the little blind 9
Cupid, reconcile you to an ignoramus, M
you doat upon a personal fright, or az
poverty with its unwelcome but still att
dant guests :"
"No, surely not entirely; but then, l
is really blind to many of the faults t
others see, and l would not give a st
for that which pals before the f~ercest b
of adversely, or has not the frmness to b
defiance upon every malicious story coli
to detract from the loved ones charac
And if must be Invested of every worl
comfort; if my life must be a continr
scene of privation and distress; oh. let
ever hear the tones of sympathy and ki
ness and / know T could haor ~ OIL -