Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-05-20
Timothy Titcombs Hints to Married Men.

happiness comes to the bosom of your wife.
The world may pile its honors upon you until
your brain goes wild with delirious excitement;
wealth may pour into your Golfers through long
years OF prosperity; you may enjoy the falrest
rewards of enterprise and excellence but it
all the these are won by depriving your wife
of your soclety-by driving her out of your
thoughts, and by interfering with the constant
sympathetic communion of your heart with
hers, she cannot but feel that what enriches you
impoverishes her, and that your gain, whatever
it may be, is at her expense. She may enjoy
your reputation and your wealth, your success
es and good fortunes, but you and your society
are things that are infinitely mdro roapreeious to
her. She depends upon you, naturally and by
force of circumstances. Friends may crowd
around her; but if you come not, she is not
satisfied. She may have spread before her a
thousand delicacies; but if they are unshared
by you she would exchange them all for an
orange which you bring home to her as an evi-
dence that you have thought of her The dress
you selected when in the city is the dearest,
though she may acknowledge to herself that
she would have chosen different colors and ma
terial. In short, it is from your heart and the
world coming through your heart that she
draws that snstenance and support which her
deepest nature Graves.
Now, how are you dealing by this wife of
yours? Do you say that you have all you can
attend to in your business, and that she must
look out for herself? Do you forget that she
lives in the house, away from the excitements
of the world which so much interest you, and
that the very sweetest excitement of the day is
that which throws the warm blood in her heart
into eddies as she hears your step at the door?
DO you forget that she has no pleasure in pub
lie places unless you are at her side? Are you
unmindful that she has no such pleasant walks
as those which she takes with her hand upon
your arm? Do you ignore the fact that she
has claim upon your time? Do you fail to
remember that you took her out of pleas
ant family circle, away from the associations Of
her childhood, and that she has no society in
all the wide world she prizes SO highly as yours?
Do you forget that you owe your first duty to
her, and that you have no right to give to soci-
ETY., or to your own pleasure, the time which
necessarily involves neglect of her? 10 come
to practical points it one of the aims
your life to give to your wife a portion of your
time and society, so that she shall not al
ways be obliged 10 sit alone, and go out
alone?
There are some poor specimens of your sex in
the world who not onl y do not feel that their
wives have any special claim on their consider
alton and their time, but who take the occasion
when in the presence of their wives, to mako
themselves generally despicable. l know ma n
whose appearance when in society, or ming
ling in the common affairs of business has all
: the blandenss and fragrance ofnewly mown hay.
lie touches his hat to the ladies whom he meets
, in the street with grace which D'Orsay
! would honor with admiration, and gives them q
smile as genial and radiant as harvest moon
, He bears with him all the polishan grace of a
gentlemen The concentrating virtues of al
, thelubricating oils could not add to the ease of
his manner. People cannot imagine how such
, a man could be anything but the best of hus
bands, but he is not any such thing If were
a Jew, and not particularly fond of bacon, [
f shonld say that he was hog in his own house.
He is, there, domineering, peevish, exacting
/ and hateful. l have never known him to ospeak
Q an aAectonate or pleasant word to the best OF
4 wivos. Nothing is out of place in the ho us c
c for which she is not reproached in frettul and
. insulting language. Nothing goes wrong out
d of doors for which he does not takerevenge, or
show his spite, by finding fault with the COM
panion of his life He criticises her cooking
Q and her personal appearance, and, in short, lets
off upon her wounded but patient ear all the
q. foul accusations of his miserable nature and
j contemplate disposition. Although somepow
erful impressions received in early life have in
d duced me to oppose corporal punishment OF
g principle have sometimes wondered whether
II should be entirely inconsolable if he should
q sometime, be cowhided kicked, cuffed maimoC
and otherwise shamefully entreated. But th
is an extreme case, you say Well, it ought tt
!. be; but will you just stop for a moment, anC
,s ask yourself where is it that you show TIN
\ worst side of your nature? Where is it tha
10 you feel at the greatest liberty to exhibit you
10 spleen, to give way to your forgetfulness,- t.
w speak harsh words to make little hateful speech
es that are contemplate from their unprovoke
N bitterness Is it among your fellows, and il
r. society of other ladies that you take occasion tt
10 say your meanest things? No, sir! You g
w home to your wife you go home from thos'
h who care no more for you than they do for +
thousand others, to the woman whom in TIN
!, presence of God and man you have promised t.
; love and cherish above all others, to the woman
Vi who loves you and who regards you better thar
m all else earthly, to woman who is unprotected
8 save by you, and wholly unprotected from 20,
At and spit your spleen into her ear, andsay thing
to her which, if any one else were to say woul'
IN secure him to a well deserved Gaming. Are yo'
re not ashamed of this? You say things to he
,t which you would not dare to say to any othc
a lady, however much you might be provoked
n You say them-oh courageous friend becaus
y. nobody has the right to cowhidc you for it
Isn't that brave and manly as the good moth
ers of us all have told us a thousand times
Y " don't you never let me hear of your doinj
y. that again" 1t isn't pretty. 1t is ineAabl,
ks wicked and dastardly
ks That husbands and wives NAV entertain perfer