Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1860-02-02
MISCELLANEOUS,
For the Gazette
Il CHAPTER ON MATRIMONY:
With Some Good Advice to Young Men.
BY UNCLE ROGER

The power of wife for good or evil is
irresistible. Home must be the seat of hap
piness, or it must be forever unknown. A
good wife is to man wisdom, and courage,
and strength, and endurance. A bad one
is confusion, weakness, discontinue, and
despair. No condition is hopeless where
the wife possesses tfrmness, decision, and
ec0n0my. There is no outward prosperity
which can cOunteract incidence, ercraUd-
gance, and tolly at home. No spirit can
long endure bad domestic influence Man
is strong, but his heart is not adamant.
He delights in enterprise and action but
to sustain him he needs q tranquil mind,
and a whole heart He needs his moral
force In conflicts of the worll To recov-
er his equanimity and composure home
must be to him place of repose, of peace,
OF cheerfulness, of comfort; and his soul
rcnews its strength again and goes forth
with fresh vigor to encounter the labor and
troubles Of life But if at home he finds
no rest, and is there met with bad temper,
sullenness, or gloom, or is assailed by dis
content, or complaint hope yanishes, and
be sinks into despair. 1t is, therefore, of
the first Importance that wife should be
possessed of those qualities which will not
onl y make her an agreeable companion, but
render home a scene Of contentment, peace
and happiness.
Something more than beauty of face and
figure is necessary to happiness in the mar
ried state, and plain features may often
conceal a noble heart. The lady who would
become really beautiful must make the cul-
tiyation of her mind-of those intellectual
and moral powers with which her Creator
has endowed her-her first and principal
care. Pure affections must be cherished;
amiable dispositions encouraged useful
knoaoledge acquired; and a mild, even, and
obliging temper assiduously cultivated or
all her endeavors to obtain real beauty will
prove to have been in vain
Utility, and not elegant accomplish
ments, is the leading recommendation Of
the woman who will make good wife
Beauty Of person and elegance of manners
weigh but little in the balances of domes-
tic happiness. What is there in one of
our modern parlor belles,' unacquainted
with common household duties, to recon-
mend her to the man who seeks for some
thing more than mere doll for wife
She has white skin, hands, and teeth, but
can she bake, make plum pudding, and ap-
ple-dumplings? She has black eyes, eye
lashes, and eyebrows, but can she wash and
iron shirts? She has red lips, cheeks, and
nails, but can she make shirt and keep
the buttons on? She has long body,
hair, and hands, but can she wipe and dust
furniture, scrub floor, and wash dishes
She has short ears, teeth, and feet, but is
she a gada about? She has a wide chest,
forehead, and space between the eyebrows,
but has she got good sense? She has a
small mouth, figure, and ankle, but can She
turn out with the lark, kindle fires, and get
the breakfast in good season She has
slender fingers, thin lips and fine hair, but
can she milk cows and feed chickens
These are some of the qualifications which
are essentially necessary to make woman
a blessing to her husband, and without
which she is unfit to preside over home
Boarding schools, music teachers, dancing
masters, etc, may prepare young ladies to
enter fashionable society, and make them
all that the silly and nonsensical notions of
the age may require; but they can never
fl; them to become the true wives of Ge-
serving husbands 1t was a judicious res
olutlon Of father, as well as a most pleas
ing compliment to his wife when, on being
asked what he intended to do with his girls,
he replied, i intend to apprentice them to
their excellent mother, that they may learn
the art of improving time, and be fitted to