The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1860-10-25
The Dream. of. Life.

sage from -Ehe DreaIn OF LIE, ny 1AS
Marvel. Dickens, in his happiest vein,
never wrote anything better: s;.
Benedict the Married lMan.-sYou grow
unusually, amiable and kind you are ear, y,
nest in your search Of friends; you shake
hands with your office boy as if he were,
your second cousin. You joke cheerfdllJy,
with the stout washer-woman; and give
her shilling over change, and insist upon q.
herkeeping it; and grow auite merry at
the recollection of it. You tap your
hackman on the shoulder very Familiarity,
and tell him he is a capital fellow. and
don't allow him to whip his horses, except
when driving to the Post-ofice. You
even ask him to take q glass of beer with
you upon some chilly evening. You
drink to the health Of his wife-where-
upon you think him o very miserable
man, and give him a dollar by way ef
consolation.
aYou think all the editorials in the
morning papers are remarkably well writ
ten-whether.upon your side or upon the
other You wonder why. you never ad-
mired Mrs. Hemans before, or Stoddard,
OF any of the rest. 81
sYou give pleasant curl to your fin =
gers, as you saunter along the street.
and say-but not SO loud as to be over
heard-'She is mine-she is mineY ..,.-
: s'You wonder if Frank ever loved Net
lie one half as we'll as you love Madge.
You feel quite sure he never did. You
can hardly conceive how it is, that Madge
has not been seized before now by scores
of enamored men, and borne of, like the
Sabine women in Romish history. Yon
chuckle over your future, like boy. who
has found aeguinea in cropping for sixpenr
ces. You read over the marriage. SER
vice-thinking of the time when you
will take her hand, and slip the ring. up-
on her finger, and repeat after the clergy
man-for richer-for poorer; for bet
ter-for worsey A great deal of worse :
there. will be about it you think!
aThrough all, your heart cleaves othat
sweet fnlagsof the beloved Madge, as light
cleaves to day The weeks leap with q
bound and the months only, grow long
when you approach that day which is to
make her yours. There are no flowers
rare enough to.make boquets for her, dia-
monds are too dim for herto wear; pearls
are tame.
"-And after marriage, the weeks
are even shorter than before. You won
der why on earth all. the single men in
the world do not rush unanimously to
the altar; you look upon them all, as q
man will look upon some. con-
ceited Dutch boor, who has never been
beyond the limits of his cabbage garden.
Married men, 6n the contrary, you're
gard as fellow voyagers; and look upon
their wives-ugly as they may be, as bet
ter than nofle. s..
'sYou blush little at first telling your
butcher what your wife would like; yon
bargain with the grocer for sugars and
teas, and wonder if he knows that you
are married man. You practice your
new way of talk upon your Office boy;
you tell him that your wife expects You
home to dinner; and are astonished that
he does not stare to hear you say it
+. s'You wonderif the people in the omni-
bus know that Madge and you are just
married !; and if the driver knows that
the shilling you hand to him is for self
and wife, You wonder if anybody was
ever SO happy before, or ever will be SO
happy again.!
'You enter yoar name upon the Hotel
books as Clarence - and Lady, ,aand
come back to look at it-wondering if
anybody else has noticed it-and think
ing that it looks remarkably we'll. You
cannot help thinking that every third
man you meet in the hall, wishes he pos.
sessed your wife-nor do you thinksit
very sinful in him to wish it. Youfearit
is placing temptation in the way ofcoyet-
GUS men, to put Madge's little CATERS out
side The chamber-door at'night,
'Your home, when it is entered, is just
what it should be: quiet, small, with ev-
cry thing she wishes, and nothing more
than she wishes. The sun strikes it in
the happiest possible way; the piano is
the sweetest toned in the world; the IL
brary is stocked to a charm, and Madge,