Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1859-05-06

TIE DEVIL IN THE IoUsE.-Onc of
the most dctcstable faults of character
is cross disposition. In the first
place, we don't think the owner himself
can take much comfort with it. Ia
Gle lies like hedge hog, rolled up the
wrong way,
Tormcn,ing himself with his priskles."
This he would have perfect right to
do, if it were not for disagreeable hab-
its he has of sticking his internal quilts
into everybody else. You must beware
how you come near him, in his lima
tured mood and touch him, if you
dare! En- TX 4
1t is especially pitiful when the cross
disposition is at the head Of the bust
ness establishment, or the family. OBJ
serve how the clerks put on serious
faces, when he arrives. See the shad-
ow fall upon the members of the fami-
ly, when the coffee does not suit him,
or his eggs are not boiled to suit him.
Frowns, harsh threats, perhaps blows,
wait on the least offence. How the
children hush, and stink away! How
the poor wife trembles.
Or, perhaps it is the wife herself.
She hath devil. Its caprices are I'M
accountable. Now she is all sunshine
and indulgence; then she is as hard
and shut-up as an oyster. The cor
ners of her mouth are ominously drawn
down. Her words are short and turn
ed up at the end, like pigs tails. Per-
haps she never governs her children
except at such times and then, in
stead Of wisely correcting, she exas-
rerates them. And what is the occa-
sion for it all A little bllliousness !;
a morning headache; some petty, i'm
aginary slight; a subtle and altogether
unworthy cause of offence, or perhaps
no cause at all. She feels So and
that is enough.
All this would be endurable for a
season, like an earthly tribulation f; but
what is worse, the cross disposition is
catching. You soon see the parents
lowering looks reflected in the faces Of
her children. They grow up pcevish
and self willed and she complains that
they are ungovernable. The moral
East wind pervades the whole house
hold. The husband, if he happens to
be a good fellow, is apt to find himself
more comfortable elsewhere than at
home. When he enters the house, he
appears restless and uneasy, until he
gets out Of it again. Or if he has a
temperament susceptible to the evil in
luence, the devil also taketh possession
Of him. Then there is household for
you!-a united happy family, with a
yengea' &C /!
If you have such a devil, get rid of
him at once. Don't suffer him to tyr
annie over you for moment. Think
how hateful you become to all around
you. Think Of your own happiness, if
not Of your friends and children's.
Think Of old age, and what a grand
mother you'll make! @ 0E
IGNORANCE OF THE R1cH.-Henry
Ward Beecher we'll says: "There is
many and many rich mans house
where it would not be safe to ask for
the commonest English classics. A
few garish ANNALS on the table, few
pictorial monstrosities, together with
the stock Of religious books of his
persuasion,' and that is all No range
Of poets, no essayists, no selection of
historians, no travels or biographies,
no select fctions or curious legendary
lore-but then, the walls have paper on
which cost three dollars roll, and the
floors have carpet that cost four dollars
a yard. Books are the windows through
which the soul looks out. A house
without books is like room without
window. No man has a right to bring
up his children without surrounding
them with books, if he has the means
to buy them. 1t is wrong to his fam
lily. lie cheats them Children learn
to read and to love reading in the
presence Of books. The love of
knowledge grows with reading, and it
is the love Of knowledge, in a young
mind, that is almost warrant against
the inferior excitements Of passi on and
vice."
A TRUE PIcTURE.-The Hon. A. B.
Longstreet, President Of the South
Carolina College, at Columbia, gave to
the graduating class Of that institution
a not very 6attering or cheering por-
traiture Of the world and their pros
poets in entering it, when in his fare
we'll address, he used the following
language:
''You are embarking upon strange
World, my young friends. 1t banished
Aristides, poisoned Socrates, murder
ed Cicero, and cruciGed the Lord of
Glory. The spirit Of Themistocles, Of
Melitus, of Anthony and Caiphas, is
still in the world-greatly subdued and
aw-bound, to be sure, but not extin-
suished. You may expect, thcl eforc,
1t times to be depressed by your rivals, /
for your patriotism, and
;ormented for your benefactions to
lave your confidence abused, your in !,
egrity derided, and to suffer a thous- q
md impositioLs in smaller matters t
rom those from whom you have h
light to expect better things" p
Ss1 He is armed without that's in .
locent within. g