Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-07-24
WHO MAKES THE BEST WIVES

Not few OF our readers, we are persuaded,
will be arrested by the caption of this article
The subject of which it treats has been one
of universally acknowledged interest and
Importance ever since the day when it was
avered by the wise man that 'whosoever OBJ
taineth wife, obtaineth a good thing
Bachelors as we are, our own views on such
a theme, could amount only to speculation.
The following, however, from the Philadel-
phia Ledger, must commend itself to gener-
al appreciation from the tone Of practical
wisdom which pervades it: ......
"By all means marry woman with mon
ey," says careful fathers to their sons !;
"you'll find it as easy as not to get d suita-
BILE wife, who has little fortune" "Give
me beauty, grace and accomplishment" is
the mental answer of enthusiastic youth,
and leave mercenary consideration to baser
souls"
We submit that neither is right. 1t is in
fnitely more important that young man
should choose healthy, amiable, and intel
ligcnt partner, than that he should select
either beauty or an heiress. The latter
has usually expensive habits, and, by the
time she has been married twenty years, has
cost her husband the amount of her fortune
in nsuperAuities. Besides, heiresses are gen.
orally brought up in idleness, spending their
time in reading novels, .lounging about on
the sofa, or acquiring taste for fashionable
dissipation; so that they are either absurd
ly romantic O: out of health from want of en-
ercse or from late hours, and, therefore, en-
tirely unfit to make good wives. Beauties,
on the other hand, mostly are vain or giddy,
if not both. If wives were designed for
playthings, or had no purpose beyond being
parlor ornaments, a beauty might be .desira-
bic, just as pictures are on fine furniture
The man who marries an heiress sacrifices
his independence and ends by finding he is
out of pocket also The lover who weds
merely for beauty ties himself to doll,
which has not even the merit of being sure
to keep its painted cheeks.
The woman make the best wives who
combine common sense with good temper,
who have been brought up to help them
selves and who bring sound constitutions,
equable spirits, and sincere affection as a
dowry to their lovers A wife should be her
husband s best friend-she should be COM
petent to counsel him in difficulties, to cheer
him in sorrow, to render his everyday hearth
the peasantest spot to him to be found any
where. If she has confirmed ili-health
she cannat be ali this to him neither can
she if she has crooked temper, or habits
of Incidence, or is deficient in practical
sense. The woman WHOSE whole heart is
devoted to shaw, to company, or to idle ac-
complishments, may possibly make an in
teresting belle, but she is sure to prove a
very different wife. We would not have
young girls neglect the beautiful entirely ;
but that which adorns should be made sub
seryiept to some more solid superstructure.
To know how to play the last new air, yet
be ignorant how to compound the last new
pudding, is surely objectionable. A man
might as we'll neglect to learn business as
woman refuse to acquire knowledge of
housekeeping.
1t is useless to disguise the fact that girls
arc too often directed to attract lovers rather
than to retain the affections of husbands.
This is especially true of the daughters of
families above the necessities of daily labor
Mrs. F. the successful mechanics wife,
makes virtual slave of herself by druding,
late and early, in order that Anna Maria
may be "brought up" as she phrases it,
'like lady" The young Miss accordingly,
is crammed With music, dancing, French,
and other fiddle-faddles, is told always 10
carry her shoulders back, and never to romp,
and is taught to consider work as degrading
What sort of wife can such a creature
make? If she marries any body hat rich
man, her idle and expensive habits keep him
always poor. If she catches prize, which,
perhaps, one in thousand may do, ten to
one she dsgusts her husband. In another
case she is always out of health, the conse-
quence of want of exercise in girlhood, and,
ifshe has offspring, entails her weakness
naturally on her progeny. Physicians do
not hesitate to say that large proportion
of female invalids of the present generation
and their number Unknown to be legion
owe their complaints to the folly of parents
in neglecting to bring them up properly.