The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1854-06-07
WOMAN AM
BY IRVING.

- l. nave SpeculaIeQ q great Teal upOn
matrimony. I have seen young and
beautiful women, the pride of gay cir
Giles, married-as the world says-well!
Some have moved into costly houses,
and their friends have all came and
looked at their fine furniture and their
splendid arrangements for happiness,
and they have gone away and committed
them to their sunny hopes cheerfully and
without fear. It is natural to be an
aguine for the young, and at such times
lam carried away by similar feelings
Hove to get unobserved into a corner,
and watch the bride in her white attire,
and with her Smiling face and her soft
eyes moving before me in their pride of
life, weave a waking dream of her future
happiness, and persuade myself that it
will be true. / think how they Will sit
upon the luxurious sofa as the twilight
falls, and build gay hopes, and murmur
in low tones forbidden tenderness; and
how thriilingly the allowed kiss, and the
beautiful endearments of welded life,
will make even their parting joyous,
and how gladly come back from the crowd
and the empty mirth of the gay to each
Others quiet company. l picture tony
self that young creature, who bushes
even now at his hesitating caress, listen
ing eagerly for his footsteps as the night
steals. on, and wishing that he would
come; and when he enters at last, and,
with an affection as undying as his pulse,
folds her to his bosom, l can feel the
tide that goes flowing through the heart,
and gaze with him OIL that graceful form
as she moves about for the kind Offices
of affection, soothing all his unquiet
cares, and making him forget even him
self In her young and ~unshadowed beau
II:
Il go forward for years, and see her
luxuriant hair put soberly away from
her brow, and her girlish graces ripen
into dignity, and bright loveliness chas-
tened with the gentle meekness ofmatern-
al affection. Her husband looks on her
with a proud eye, and shows her the
same ferVent love and delicate attentions
which first won her, and her fair children
are growing about them, and they go
-onfullo of honor and ~untroubled years,
and are remembered when they diei
say I love to dream thus when I
go to give the young bride joy. 1t is
the natural tendency of feeling touched
by loveliness, that fears nothing for it.
self; and if l ever yield to darkened feel
ings, it is because the light of the pic
ture is changed. / am not fond Of dwell-
ing upon such changes, and / will not
minutely now. l allude to it only be-
cause / trust that my simple page will be
read by some of the young and beautiful
beings who daily move across my path;
and / would whisper to them as they
glide by ~joyously and confidently, the
secret of an unclouded future.
The picture l have drawn above is
not peculiar. 1t is colored like the
faneies of the bride; and many, oh
many an hour will she sit, with her rich
jewels lying loosely In her fingers, and
dream such dreams as these. She be-
Eeves them, too-and she goes on a
while undeceived. The evening is not
too long while they talk of plans for
happiness, and the quiet meal is still a
pleasant and delightful novelty of mu-
tual reliance and attention. There
comes soon however, a time when person
al topics become bare and wearisome,
and slight attentions Will not alone
keep upthe social excitement. There
are long intervals of silence, and detected
symptoms of Reariness and the husband,
first, in his manhood breaks in upon the
hours they were wont to spend together.
I cannot follow it Enthusiastically.
There comes long hours of unhappy res
t~lessness, and terrible misgivings of each
others worth and affection, till, by and
by they can conceal their uneasiness no
longer, andgo out separately to seek re-
lief and lean upon the hollow world for
the support which n who was their
lover and friend could not give themI
Heed this, ye who are winning by
your innocent beauty, the affection of
high minded and thinking beings. Re-
member that he will give up the broth
er of his heart with whom he has had
even a FELLOWSHIP of mind, the society of
his contemporary in the race
of fame, who have held with him a stern
companionship; and frequently, in his
passionate love, he will break away from
the arena of his burning ambition, to
come to listen to the "Yoice of the char
mer." 1t will bewilder him at first;
but it will not long. And then, think
youthat an idle Establishment will change
a mind that has been used, for years
u III Oqudl COnI1uH1OAs 4hAAA JOu |
he will give up for a weak dalliance,
the animating themes of man and the
search into the mysteries of knowl-
edge? Oh, no ladyl believe memo
Trust not your influence to such light
letters. Credit not the old fashioned
absurdity, that woman's is a secondary
lot, ministering to the necessities of
her lord and master. Ifyour immortali-
ty is as complete and your gift of
mind as capable as ours, / would put
no wisdom ofmine against Gods allot-
ment. 1 would charge you to water the
undying bud, and give it a healthy cul-
ture, and open its beauty to the sun;
and then you may hope that, when
YOUR life is bound with another, you
viii go on equally, and in a fellowship
hat shall perVade every earthly inter
est
According to Halter, women bear
hunger longer than men; according to
Plutarch, they can resist the effects of