Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1853-10-26
MISCELLA A N Y.
From the Home Journal.
The Cherished Wife.

There is blssful reliance on the devotion with
which man may inspire his wife, by proper re-
gard to her disposition, and proper respect to her
sensibilites. apart from considerations merely af-
fectng her personal condition-though these, too,
Should have mis- care-that gives to what may be
called the fifth act of the drama Of welded life, a
hllier and happier interest than memory, disposed
as she is to glld the past can find to embelish the
s.enes in which it is believed by many the torch
Of Hymeu burns brightest. There is fullness OF
enjoyment in that euti'e identity of interests, pur
suits and feelings, it is possible to establish in this
sacred CO. partnership, to which there comes but
one qualifying ingredent-the reflection that 1t
must have an end /; and even this carries sweet
conviction with it in promise beyond the grave
for it is difficult to imagine that He who gives
nothing in vain, will permit his choicest blessing
the hearts affectionate action-to perish with
the sphere in which it has been delightfully."- exer-
cised A contrary opinion is as natural to US as to
breathe rs much part Of us as that hearts emo
ton as thoroughly engrafted in US as the consci-
business of Immortality to which it mparts its most
precious an,icpatons. 1t is the stay Of the lott
erer on life's scene, when friends, kindred and
companions have left him 1t forms portion, and
Il arre portion, of his no n the life which is to
come. 1t peoped the beautiful Elysium of the
pagan. 1t prevails, despite his Limitations of Di-
vine goodness, in the breast of the Christian. 1t
makes the Indians heaven. 1t is natures creed.
II is, to husband wife, parent children and friend,
what the words of our blessed Saviour were to the
sisters of Lazarus,-"He sleepeth, but he will rise
again, not TO forget you not in lnsensb!ity to
earthly connections not dead to affections that
rive foretaste Of heaven on earth-but renewed,
not transformed purified, but unchanged a crea-
ture STILL blending with service and alteration oi
its Maker. the practice and lruitlon OF those less
sacred attachments of which it was capable here,
and which may oaly become more constant and
more pure hereafter. Ifheaven is to be the sphere
for the full development and enjoyment of love,
our first lessons in this requirement, which is to
survive all others, have been taught us here and
are we To forget the class mates who have shared
and nhened our tolls in the difficulties of initia-
ton, or been our companions in the pleasant holi-
days of pupiage? As men, We love to renew the
associations of boyhood, aud cherish the sentiment,
though the circumstances of connection be broken.
AS angels, if such be our high destiny hereafter, ii
is difficult To imagine, and, may we not add. pain
ful to believe, our natures will be so changed that
those who taught us to love, will be excluded from
our affections and denied companionship in the
happiness of our reward-our fellow laborers in the
field become strangers in the harvest. To my
mind. to think, and hope otherwise, takes from
bereavement its pang, and gives to virtue its in
centive it encourages me to open my heart to It's
full capacity for loving to gather within 1t all
that is worthy-not merely to cheat and amuse
the fleeting moments of time, but to share with
me- if it be blessed my portion in eternity; to con-
sole me- if it be otherwise, with the consciousness
that sympathes which have sustained me here
are to be as enduring as the lot that awaits me
hereafter. Mine be the reflection that
"Cougenial spirits part to meet again"
We have spoken of welded life as drama ,and
of its fifth act as rendered more engaging than its
antecedents. by the impulse the faithful accom-
plishment of the part assigned us therein, has Civ
en- to It's heroine We have imagined her more
lovely in the eventful and closing scenes, which
indicate the catastrophe and point the moral, than
when the curtain rose, and she appeared, in youth
and beauty, and personal grace, before admirine
spectators, an untried actress in the character o.
wife. We might pursue the metaphor, and trace
ner, from the trembling neophyte on the prosceni
um. shrinking from the responsibilities she has
engaged in, through the various stages OF her per
formance, conspicuous among the dranatls persona
of the boards, until the curtain falls again, ant
plau1ts proclaim her success, But we are aware
that, beyond the point we have assumed In tht
outset Of our undertaking, our allegory cannot b'
sustained for other and nobler qualities, land high
er and holier inducements, are required in the dis
charge of substantial duties than those which OBJ
tain renown in the personations OF fiction. Th'
loving. faithful aud enduring wife has other thai
imarinary woe to her allotment; and to feel, en-
couater. conquer or conceal its pangs, is surely
more difficult than to represent them. 10 the 81
lent and solitary home of real afllictlon, there comes
not the sJlace Of applause that attends successful
efforts to portray it and tears which dim the eye
of actual suffering, spring from another fountain
than that which art supplies to weep by rule
Pride may wound ,and rivalry may veX the o4ndl
date for public favor, but the notifications OF to
nipht may be remunerated BY the trlumphs OF to
morrow TO the patient wife. the trials of TIT
day are but preludes to other demands on her vlr
tue, and her oonquests brings no consultations o
fame. The popular actress has partners in he
mimic JOY, and sharers in her affected sorrow
The secluded wife and mournful mother know
butone eatthly bosom on which to repose hergriefs
and that is, perhaps. rejoicing with some eom
holden, or pouring forth its compassion with SOM
tragic queen, unmindful, in the flow of factitiOu
sentiment, of her who is longing for sympathy
and encouragement in positive evil at home. Tru
y, the yotares of Thespis, affords no parallel 70