The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-01-27

TO the mysterious pole-star Of her womanhood.
a feeble soul loves. hates, wills, feebly. 1t is
only those who have borne the burden and
heat ofthe day, who know the blessedness Of the
evening tide 1t is only those who have walked
well, unsustaincd, who fully appreciate the un-
utterabe happiness Of leaning on a stronger
arm. Love is like the cholera, dysenterv, and
other acute diseases. An emaciated sicky ma
ture takes it lightly, and RECEIVERS quickly but
with your generous, hearty, healthy, robust,
vigorous souls, it goes hard. Ten to one ii
they ever recover; and when they do, they bear
the scars for life. Do not therefore fear to be
too strong. Be not afraid 20 grapple with the
higher mathematics, lest YOU should be called
strong minded. Sir" Numbered the rhi
noceros-hided Ursa Major of the eighteenth
century, what harm does 1t do man TO call
him Holofernes?" What harm, indeed, in be
ing called strong-minded? 1t is better than
weak minded, DO whatever You think, on ma
ture deliberation, you ought TO do. BE sure
you are right, and then go ahead Never
mind what men think about it i do not mean
that you are not to try or to wish to please them.
1t is both natural and proper. But do it hon
eStly and openly. Have a benevolent desire to
give pleasure, and it is very probable that the in
nocent desire to please will be gratifed. lfyou
cannot please without being false to yourself, Won
would better displease. Admiration gained By
slurrlng over your convictions, retaining
from having any, is dearly bought. Best of all.
take no thought of pleasing. Have no anxiety
about it. Remember the farmers maxim,
- Good stock always brings good price" Make
yourself worthy of love, admiration, reverence,
and YOU will always hold trumps.
Woman's devotion is another theme which
has been run into the ground. Orators extol
it. Editors paragraph it. Poets rhyme it, and
women eXernplify the old prOverb, " Give a dog
a bad name and kill him." But devotion, OF
itself, has no moral character. 1t is simply
sickness shared in common, and to a far
greater degree by oysters, molasses, blood
suckers, court plaister and oihce-seekers. In
| telligent, voluntary devotion - devotion to a
great principle endangered, TO justice though
obscured-to nobility though persecuted lis
good. But discerning public utters devout NOR
al reflections over wife devotion to her scamp
of husband. He commits theft. and is thrown
into prison he is unkind and brutal in his
treatment of her; or he is coolly indifferent 10
her happiness, and alive to the charms of other
wonen-but still she clings to him with all
woman's devotion.
Now, beg to ask this question. When
woman marries, what does she marry? Is il
coat, moustache, and umbrella? Ii it is, then
so long as the coat, moustache, and umbrella,
are eXtant, she does well to devote herself to
Il
| popularity supposed, she marries a soul, heart,
| a character. then, when she discovers that the
soul rung false, the heart is not there, and the
| character assumed, do not see what there is
| TO cling to, nor where is the merit In clinging.
| You love what YOU think a man is, not neces.
| sarily what he is. You cherish reverently
lock of hair, because II once shaded the brow
Of an absent friend; but when YOU find that
you have been deceived, and that it is only from
. IL, II r
pened to be tonsured at the same time and
place, YOU cast it from you in disgust We ad-
mire Satan, appearing Ia us as an angel Of
light; but Shen the horns protrude. shall we
Iiei rtir pa ih"nl " IN ~ Wt.mapS devotion?
may break away from her marriage vows. 80
soon she is become dissatisfied with her hus-
band? No more than | would advise yoI to
burn down vuur house because it Is not built
according to contract. You may alter it if Won
can, and If not, YOU must make the best of it
as 1t Is. But YOU need not admire and cNtol
it, just as it would have been right for YOU To
do if il really were what you wished and plan
ned it to be. \ woman Judges wrong in the
chief incident of her life. She makes mis-
take, whose Consequences are iar-rcaching, and
very deplorable. bat she must hear them. Her
husbands neglect refusal 90 fulfil his part
of the contract does not justify her non-lulfl-
ment any farther than is necessary. ! say U0H
IS HeceSS0Iy for the promise IS of such ma
ture that / 90 not see how 1t Is in her power
to keep the whole of it, and, consequently, what
is the possible use of making IT.. She VOWS to
love, honor, and obey; but love and honor do
not depend on the WILL lou cannot love 4
man il he has not the qualities which inspire
love, nor honor him when hc ceases to he hon
orable. God, il IS true, commands us to love
Him; but His character is such, that it needs
only to be considered, 10 he adored. Man is a
long way from DIVINITY, and our feelings towards
him cannot be bespoksn beforehand. They are
entirely contingent on his deserts which are va
riabIe. Therefore, a woman promises to do
what is quite beyond the sphere of her volition,
and she can neither keep nor break her prom
Use. But for her own souls sake she must
maintain her integrity She must be faithful.
and just, and gentle, and bameless. II she
does more than this-if she is so unfortunately
constituted tlEst she still prostrates herself be
fore the fragments of her broken and debased
idOl-she is 10 be pitied. She is not to be
praised.
For grand nature in ruins, may have a
mournful and tender reverence. For nature
which we thought grand, but which proved to
be petty, We have only contempt.
There is also IA vast deal of nonsense afoat
in the feminine world about infancy. Let ever
so unsightly "a baby be brought into a room
larly young ladies', and what billing, and COO
ing and kissing, and hugging, and fondling.
and fracturing OF epithets and hustlng together
of vOwels and consonants, and general mud
die, and enthusiastic rhapsodes about the
beauty, and grace, and sweetness, and charm
ingness, Of infancy. All of which, and great
deal more, is to be forgiven To mothers. They
have earned right to indulge in any extrava.
gance they choose concerning their own chi
dren; but why uninterested persons of mature
years should be SO transported at the sight of
baby, | cannot understand. | cherish no
hatred against the poor things that Is ! am
willing they should live. a wise Providence
has ordained that we should all pass through
the portals of infrmity to the tenn Pile of perfec.
ton; and, having made safe passage our
selves, we ought not to cherish murderous de-
signs against those who are yet in the narrow
way. We reverence the great possibilities, the
certain eterntes, that lie clenched in their tiny
fists. Our trust for the future should give us
patience with the present. Faith enables us
to see what sight cannot discern. Their help
lessneSs appeals to our better natures; and
thus by the aid of religion, philosophy, and
charity, we can learn to contemplate them with
a calm and rational equanimity, sometimes
amounting to satisfaction. But so far as babies
are palpable, obvious, present, isolated facts,
they are not TO be compared, in point Of beauty
or interest, to a lamb, a chicken, goslng, or
very young pig. The latter are intelligent,
lively, frolicsonle, arch, tiaiid, inquring, affec,
tionate. The baby is lumpy, stohd, staring,
inert; a mere shapeless mass of Habby flesh,
continually threatening to fall TO pieces ge-
latnous compound, not pleasant to look at, very
disagreeable to hear, and too precarious to be
touched. In short, a thing to be commiserated
kneaded, nursed, and worked up into some