Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-02-09
For tho National Era.
Is SHE HAPPYi
mr. MINNIE MYRTLE.

lH She HAPPYf
BY MINNIE MYRTLE.
What is fame to heart yearning for af-
lection, and finding it not Il is like the VIC
tors wreath to him who is parohed with fever
and longing for the one cooling draught-the
cup of cold water
This was the language of one who had been
crowned with the laurel wreath of fame, and
on whom was lavished all the world has to
bestow Of honor, and yet her heart hungered
Is she happy is question | have often
asked, concerning one who is walking in the
same path, and breathing the same atmosphere
of praise and adulation. / sometimes ask her
if it is enough? if this is sufficient for her wo-
mans heartl and she answers "yesO But I
never yet believed her Why those tears
when there is no visible cansea Why does she
start as if guilty, when suddenly reused from
Q revery? Why does she instantly assume
that gay and careless air, lest we should know
that she is ever sad
| have seen her when she thought no eye
was near, and no listening ear was by, with
her face buried il her hands, and the hot
tears falling thick and fast, while sobs seemed
rending her bosom. If | should ask her then
the caure Of her weeping she would answer,
nothing for woman must not speak the
truth concerning her hearts yearnings.
And there are those who envy her--who
think she glories in the worlds homage, and
loves its hollow praise. Oh, what an answer
would her heart give back, could it speak from
its hidden depths Her name is on every
tongue; but to her it is only mockery.
The unthinking world calls her cold and
heartless-they contemptuously speak of her
as one who prefers fattery to love-to whom
~ kn <,c Ia al Al
ings of affection. She smiles, gay, glad smile,
when they tell her Of the crown which is to
deck her brow, and they think she will wear it
proudly. They know not how her soul tram
Piles it in the dust.
"Why does she not renounce that which
gives her no pleasurean
A literary man, in his advice to another,
concerning the care of his health, says: How
ever happy he may be in the domestic circle,
he must have something else to feed his temper
and his ambition ~
"And is this also true of woman?n aNo,o
| fearlesly answer, though there will be q
multitude to contradict me- Woman needs
nothing for her temper or her ambition
if there is enough for her heart God did not
make man and woman equal and alike in all
things-what stupid world it would have
been, If he had! aThere are diversities Of
gifts" What 10 lacking in one, is made up in
another
But it is true that woman must have some.
thing to feed both her temper and ambition,
unless her heart is full The excitement of q
literary life, or of any other which affords con-
slant occupation, is not sufficient for the hap
piness of which she is capable - for which
her soul hungeIs;n but il preserves her elias
ticity and her usefulness /; aye and sometimes
saves her from idiocy or from madness!
Why has she never married This is wo-
mans sphere, and tho duties Of the household
are woman's duties" is the stereotyped answer
to all this. Yea but they are duties which
cannot be performed with any degree of accept
ance when the heart 10 not engaged. Into
other channels the heart may Le forced but
INTO this never, as the thousand wretched homes
into which woman has come with only her
head and her hands abundantIy prove.
Is she happy" No, not in the sense in
which you put the question; but she is too true
woman to consent to make others miserable
by taking upon Ter vows which she can never
fulhl-by conssLting to preside over HOME
while her heart IL still wandering-by attempt
ing to diffuse light and life into the fireside
circle, when her own bosom is without the
love, the warmth-giving element which alone
can link in harmony the family bonds.
VA noW nhppy bno WOulo De, ana how hap
py she could make others, surrounded by those
in whom her affections delighted How con.
genial to her would be those quiet duties and
gentle Offices which bless home but there is
a'God in heaven who says thou mayest like
TO do this but thou must do that.n
When woman reigns in any other empire
than home, il is from a stern necessity, which
converts her into . martyr But il Is to the
reselaa weary ones Of earth, that we look for
the mighty deeds which shake the world and
reform society. One who has spent his lie in
wandering says nothing is ever accomplished
in the world BY the happy yet there are
some whose high sense Of duty bids them re-
linquish the happiness they might enjoy in
order better TO promote the good Of others ;
yet there are many more who are dripen forth.
else they would never 90.
Few, very few, women launch voluntarily on
the 80 whore pleasure or safety depends on the
breath Of popular favor. II is with the hope
Of finding anchorage for the tempest tossed
bark--some rock which will give temporary
ropose-but il Is far from being the beloved
port And let those who are in the midst Of
green 0elds and howery wales envy them not
their psFilous resting place.
"A c0rrospondont vritine from Cuba sava