Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-05-24
Women and Marriage.

mony. | have seen young and beautiful Wo-
men, the pride OF gay circles, married-as the
world says-well Some have moved into
costly houses, and their friends have all come
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. 1t
is natural to be sanguine for the young, and at
such times | am carried away by similar feel
ings. j love 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 wax
ing dream of her future happiness, and per-
suade myself that it will be true. think how
they will sit upon the luxurious sofa as the
twilight falls, and build gay hopes, and MUIR
muir in low tones the now forbidden tender
ness and how thrillingly the allowed kiss,
and the beautiful endearments of welded life,
will make even their parting joyous, and how
gladly come buck from the crow and the
empty mirth ofthe gay to each others quiet
company. | picture to myself that young
creature, who bushes even now at his hesi-
tatlng caress, listening eagerly for his foot
steps rs 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. | can feel the tide that
goes flowing through the heart, and gaze with
him on that graceful form as she moves about
for the kind offices Of affection, soothing all
his unquiet cares, and making him forget even
himself in her young and unshadoWed beauty.
60 forward for years, and see her l~uxurlant
bin giiiid RRn gl ssRsri tFp aeHaK fn fFP4 arR RGf BROW Hhu and BIrR her
loveiness chastened with the gentle meekness
of maternal affection. Her husband looks on
her with Il proud eye, and shows her the same
fervent love and delicate attentions which
first won her, and her fair children are grow
ing about them, and they 90 on full of honor
and untroubled years, and are remembered
when they die.
say | love to dream thus when I 90 to give
the young bride joy. 1t is the natural ten.
dency of feeling, touched by loneliness, that
fears nothing for itself; and if ever yield to
darkened feelings, it is because the light of the
picture is changed. | am not fond of dwell
ing upon such changes, and l will mo-
infinitely now. | alude to it only because ]
trust that my simple page will be read by
g some of the young and beautiful beings who
daily move across my path and l would
whisper to them as they glide byjoyOusiy anC
confidently, the secret of an uncloudeC
| future.
: The picture / have drawn above is not pecu
Y liar. 1t is colored like the fancies of tn,
bride and many. oh! many an hour will sh
sit, with her rich jewels lying loosely in he
fingers, and dream such dreams rs these. Sh
9 believes them, too-and she goes on a Will
undeceived. The evening is not too lon,
while they talk of plans for happiness, and tn
d quiet meal is still a pleasant and delightful
v novelty of mutual reliance and attention.
There comes, soon, however, n time wheI
! personal topics become bare and wearisome
and slight attentions will not alone keep IL
" the socia! excitement. There are long inter
walls of silence, and detected symptoms c
WEAKNESS and the husband, first, in his mar
hood, breaks in upon the hours they were wor
= to spend together. Icannot follow it circun
n stantially. There come long hours of unhapp
restlessness, and terrible ~misgivings of eac
others worth and affection, till by and by, the
y can conceal their uneasiness no longer, an
s. go out separately to seek relief andlean upo
he the hollow world for the support which or
k who was their lover aud friend could not gi,
them!
Heed this, ye who are winning by you
innocent beauty, the affection of high-minde
and thinking beings. Remember that l
~ will give up the brother of his heart, wit
10 whom he has had even a fellowship of min
ed the society of his cotemporary runners
t. the race of fame, who have held with him
companionship and frequently, in his pas
II ionate love he will break away from the arel
sc of his burning ambition, to come to listen
y the voice Of the charmer.' 1t will bewild
P, him at first butt will not long. And the
ed think you that an idle Establishment W
change a mind that has been used, f
", years, to an equal communion 4? Think y
he will give up for a weak d~alliance the al
ha mating themes Of man, and the search in
: the mysteries of knowledge? Oh, no, lad
: believe me, notl Trust not your influen
to such light letters. Credit not the O
fashioned absurdity that woman's is a seco
dairy lot, ministering to the necessities
ng her lord and master. If your Immortality
as complete and your gift of mind as capat
= as ours, 1 would put no wisdom of mi
h against Gods allotment. l would char
be you to water the undying bud, and give it
lu- healthy culture, and open its beauty to t
mo sun and then you may hope that, VIII
your life is bound with another, You will
ON equally, and in a fellowship that sh
On pervade every earthly interest.