Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-11-09
Woman and Marriage.


4 [ have speeulated a great deal upon
matrimony. / have seen young and
/ beautiful women, the pride Of gay cir
cles. married-as the world says
well Some have moved into costly
+ houses, and their friends have all
come and looked at their splendid ar
rangements for happiness, and they
/ have gone away and committed them
to the sunny hopes, cheerfully, and
without fear. 1t is natural to be san
guine for the young, and at such times
I am carried away by similar feelings.
/ love to get unObserved into a corner
and watch the bride In her white at
tire, and with her smiling face and her
soft eyes moving before me In their
pride of life, weave waking dream Of
her future happiness, and persuade
myself that it will be true. think
how they will sit on the luxurious so
ia as the twilight falls, and build gay
hopes and murmur in low tones the
now unforbidden tenderness, and en-
10y the allowed kisses and the beautI-
ful endearments of welded life, that
viii make even their parting joyous !;
and how gladly they will come back
from the crowd and the empty mirth
and Of the gay, to each others quiet
company [ picture to myself that
young creature, who bushes even now
at his hesitating caTesses, listening ca
gerly for his footsteps as the night
steals on, and wishing that he would
come home and when he enters at
last, and with an affection as undying
as his pulse, folds her to his bosom, /
can feel the very tide that goes flow
ing through his heart, and gaze with
him on her graceful form as she moves
about him for the kind offices Of at
tentioD, smoothing all his unquiet
cares, and making him forget even
himself, in her young and unshadoW-
ing beauty.
[ 90 forward years, and see her lux
uriant hair put sOberly away from her
brow, and her girlish graces ripened
into dignity, and bright loveliness
chastened into affection. Her hus-
band looks on her with a proud eye,
and shows her the same fervent love
and the delicate attentions which first
won her, and fair children are grown
up about them, and they 90 on full Of
honor and untroubled years, aud are
remembered when they die l say l
love to dream thus when go to give
the young bride joy. 1t IS the natu-
raj tendency and feeling, touched by
loneliness, that fears nothing for it.
self; if ever yield to darker feelings
it Is because the light of the picture is
changed. I am not fond of dwelling
upon such changes, and 1 viii not min
utely now [ allude to it only because
that [ trust that my simple page will
be read by some Of the young and
beautiful beings who move daily across
my path, and I would whisper to them
as they glide by, jOyously and conf
IDENTIFY, the secret of an unclouded fu-
ture.
The picture I have here drawn is
not peculiar. It Is colored like the
fancies of the bride, and many, Oh /
many an hour will she sit, with the
rich jewels lying loose in her fingers,
and dream such dreams as these. She
believes them, toO-and she goes on
for while undeceived The evening
Is not too long while they talk afplans
for happiness, and the quiet meal is
still pleasant with the delightful nov
city of mutual reliance and attention.
There comes soon, however, a time |
when personal topics become bare and |
wearisOme and slight attentions viii /
not alone keep up the social excite /
ment. There are intervals Of silence, /
and detected symptoms Of WEAKNESS, |
and the husband first, in his manhood /
breaks in upon the hours they were
wont to spend together. l cannot fol- !
low them circumstantially. There |
come long hours of unhappy restless
ness, and terrible misgivings Of each |
others worth and affection, till, by and |
H. = !
no longer, and go out separately to |
seek relief, and lean upon the hollow /
world for support, which one who was (
their lover and friend could not give /
them
Heed this, ye who are winning by |
your innocent beauty the affections of |
high minded and thinking beings /
Remember that he will give up the I
brother of his heart with whom he has |
had ever a fellowship of miBd-the So
ciety Of his contemporary runners In I
the race of fame, who have held with |
him a stern cOmpanionship-and fre
uuently, In his passionate love, he /
will break away from the arena OF his /
burning ambition, to come and listen /
to the voice Of the charmer. 1t viii /
beWilder him at first, but 1t will not /
long and think you an idle blahdish- +
ment will chain the mind that has been I
used for years to an equal communion? /
Think you he will give 1t up for
weak dalliance. the animating themes /
of men, aud the search into myster-
les of knowledge oh no, lady be-
lieve memo Trust not your infu-
ence to light fetters Credit not the
old fashioned absurdity that woman's
is a secondary administering to the
necessities of her lord and master
It is a higher destiny | would aware
you. If your Immortality IS as COM
plete, and your gift of mind as capa-
BILE as ours. [ would charge you to wa
ter the undying bud, aud give it heal
ing culture, and open its beauty to the
sun, and then you may hope, that
when your life is bound with another,
you will 90 on equally, and with a fell
lowship thatshall pervade every earth
ly interest!
WASHINGTON IRVING.