Litchfield enquirer., 1858-06-10
fS7 We copy for the benefit of our young married
readers, one of Timothy Tftcomb's letters to the

Is We copy for the benefit of our young married
readers, one of Timothy Iftcomb's letters to the
Springfield Republican -
"My theory of life is that it is school of
mental and moral developmment,--tha God
intended that each soul should pass under
series of influences, whose Office it should be to
evolve all its faculties, and soften and harf1o-
nize them. To this end, he has laid upon each
a sweet necessity to adopt the ordinances he
has contrived. When l speak Of necessity,
do not mean compulsion, save in a limited
sense, -eompulsion entirely consistent with IN
Individual election. Thus believe that there
is q very material portion of mental and NOR
al development which cannot be achieved out
of the marriage relation and, to bring men
and women into this relation, he has given thelp
the sentiment of love, and the desire Of nlntas
al personal possession. The sentiment and de.
sire are made so <stropg that they may hardly
be resisted, so that all may choose to be joined
in conjugai relations Thus the strong are sof-.
tened by the weak, and the weak are invigora->
ted by the strong and the influences of man
aud woman upon each other become the most
powerful agencies for their mutual harmonious.
growth. But this is not all. When a pair
have become united in wedlock, there rises in
each healthy heart o desire for offspring
Nothing is more natural than this desire and
nothing more imperative: Its germ is seen far
back in childhood. The boys love of pets is
but manifestation OF the primary outreach-
ings Of this desire, which fasten at first upon
the only possible objects, and there probably
never lived little girl that did not love her
doll beyond all other play-thngs. She takes it
first, and retains it the longest of any.
This brings me to the subject Of children, as
legitnlatey something to be talked about in
these letters. The having and the rearing of
children form one of Gods ordinances for MAX
lug you what you should be--what he wishes
you to be. They are as necessary to you as
you are to them You can no more reach the
highest and NEST harmonious development Of
which you are capable without children, than
you can develop muscle without exercise
Without them, one of the most beautiful regions
of your nature must forever remain without ap-
propriate and direct culture. The Offices of
children in the culture of their parents are
manifold. In the first place, they are con-
sentative and regulating force. A pair living
together without children naturally become
are often thrown off their guard in their Ian
guage towards, aud treatment of, each other.
They lose one great stimulus to industry, and
do not possess that which is, perhaps, the
strongest bond, under all the circumstances of
Of life, which can bind husband and wife tdgeth-
er. There can be NO true development of
heart and mind where pure sel6smess4 IS the
predominant principle SO God ordains that in
each house there shall be little ones, more pre-
cious than all else, who shall engage the SYM
pathy tax the efforts, and absorb the love Of
those who sustain to them the relation Of
parents. The law,is irreversible that our best
individual progress in mental and moral good
shall be attained by efforts devoted to others !;
and in children, each parent finds the nearest
objects of such devotion: And there Is, per
haps, nothing which so tends to soften the
heart, to develop the kindlier affections, and to
unlock and chasten the synpathies Of men and
women as the children which sit around their
table, and frolic upon their knees.
When see men stop in the street to COM
fort some weeping child, or to get kiss from a
pair Of juvenile lips, know that he has passed
through blessed experience with children
A helpless little head has been laid upon bis
shoulder, in some hushed and hallowed room
where the great mystery of birth enacted
Some feeble wailing boy, pressed to his breast
has been borne, night after night, with weary
arms, back and forth in the dimly lighted
chamber, while the mother caught her short
half hours of rest. More likely still, some pre-
cious warbler, her eyes closed, her lips forever
sted, her golden curls parted away from
marble forehead, aud white rose in her hand,
has been laid in the grave, and the: sod that
covers her has been fertilized by his tears
Oh fhoro &c cop,afh;no in, do.,
children, in tender care for them, and in losing
them, even which bestows upon the soul the
most enriching of its experiences. They make
us tender and sympathetic, and thousand
times reward us for all we do for them We
cannot get along without them you cannot
get along without them. You cannot afford
to do it. They are cheap at the price of pain
and sickness, and care and toll.
What do mean by talk like this? What
do mean by the utterance of common place
like this 2 mean simply to- reveal some Of
the considerations upon which / condemns
great and growing vice among the young mar
ried people of this country--a vice. which in
wolves essential murder in many instances, and
swells the profits of thousand nestrum ven
ders And what do mean by this mean
that in thousands Of American homes children
have como to be regarded either as nuisances
or Injuries mean, that, in these homes, to
have children is deemed great MISFORTUNE
They are the bngbear that threatens people
away from the marriage relation, and fightens
them when in it. I mean that men and wo-
men, more and more in this country, hug to
themselves their selfish delights, cherish their
selfish ease, and consult their selfish. eonven-
fence, without comprehension of the fact that
they can only find their highest enjpym Mt by
obedience to the laws Of God natural and re-
vealed mean that there are multitndes who
envy those unblest with children, aud congrat-
ulate them upon their poverty. / mean that
there are husbands who gradge every charm
lost by their wives IL the duties and sacrifices
Of maternity, aad that there are wives who are