The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-01-14
DREAM .AND REALITY.
The Fate and Feelings OF the "Semi-
Detached Wife,
From the London Saturday Review.l

The first yawn OF her spouse is, no doubt, 6
severe trial to the vanity OF q bride. There are
few girls who have not built pretty castles in
Spain Of felicity uninterrupted by boredom
or butchers bills, and there are, without ques.
tion, some quiet people who fancy they attain
to it. The country parsonage, for instance,
often contains two beings who smile benignly
on each other for long tracts Of years, whose
mornings and Moons and nights are passed in
one anothers society, and who reach three
soore-and-ten without the slightest suspicion
of WEAKNESS or desire for wider Cir
--'Av. In other words, there are
Vegetables W ct 81 to whom it is ns."' nra' 70 vegetate,
as there are women to whom it is ns..- - W
live. And life, if it means any thing, means
variety and change. l. is cdd to think how on
that one yawn hangs The freedom OF years
to come. It is the bugle that sings truce. 1t
is tacit convention which leaves the husband
his club and the wife her independence. No
people can be more touchlngly attentive to
each others wants, The spouse f2ds bus
breakfast on the table, his Times cut f2r hlm,
in the hall, the timetable open at the
proper page. The one return asked for is
that Of absence for the day. sensible
husband agrees with the pretty reasoner
before him that ''a man should have something
to do" that lettering at home is hardly man
" thing, that constant association .blunts the
edge Of affection, that he "has wife to think
ef now and world to win for her, that if he
entirely gives up his old friends she will never
forgive herself. The sensible man, we repeat,
takes his umbrella, and leaves the pretty little
reasoner his name and her freedom. Not that
she has the least passion. for liberty. To the
world she sighs gently over the downfall OF her
hopes. Her one joy would be to have her nus
band with her. She would be delighted II he
found more pleasure in her draMne- room,
more charms in her society. She regrets
that while other people seem to find her at
tractiye, her attraction loses It's power over
the one heart in the world for WHICH she cares.
And sometimes In On evil hour the one heart
listens and believes. He leaves his umbrella
In the hall The club sees him no more; men
chat in the billiard room over his luxurious
ness and the pretty little lace that prlsons him
at home. Only the little face itself is not quite
80 pretty as it was in the tenderness OF Its re-
gret. The resigned little martyr has no notion
Of being robbed of the halo OF martyrdon. In
sensibly the spouse finds it harder and harder
to remain at her feet. He hates music, and he is
whirled from opera to opera. The piano ls
hard at work throughout the day, and
conversation viii run on nothing but Schumann
and Weber. He likes politics, and hIank
little face listens as well as it may to his sto-
ries Of the last division, or his theories as to
the possible Premier. He is used to his quiet
evening at his club, to his cigar and his piquet;
and he finds o mob in the drawing groom, and
the smell Of the divine weed absolutely insuffer-
able to his wife. In the long run he takes to
his old life of isolation, and the neglected be-
ing wins the sympathy Of her sex as she reas-
sumes her position Of semi-detached wife.
And, unfortunately, she now ard then
wins the sympathy OF the other sex, too:
Men wonder how Brown can treat his
wife 30 badly; can leave her to neglect
and to thousand temptations. He has
but one defender, and that is the wife whom
he abandons. She could have wished it had
been otherwise; that the dreams Of her girl.
hood had been realized; taat q sympathy OF
soul had bound them together. AS it is, she
will only accept Just very little perfectly in
nocent sympathy elsewhere. Friendship OF
the purest and highest kind may be suffered to
administer its inadequate consultations. But
the litany of the Church Of Plato must be
chapted without note of pity for herself or
blame for her spouse. Between such clashing
rocks the friend must steer his boat into that
sweet mysterious sea- It is with touching
reserve that the victim of his caprice accepts
her liberty, for she is after all O vile, and
her ring gives her liberty denied to
maidens. She is musical, and can practice
for whole afternoons with that gallant young
tenor in the Guards. She is artistic. aud what
can oe more charming than tete-a-tete with
that blushing Carmine over his sketch-book
She has taste for poetry, and poets couch at
her feet to read sonnets In the tender light OF
the parting day. The wide circle Of Friendship
opens before her. She listens to the confidence
Of happy and unhappy lovers. Life bscomes
varied, busy, interesting. Her good temper,
her vivacity, her sunny happiness redress the
wrongs OF her hors, and society borrows a
gentle light and sweetness from the semi.de-
tacned wife. The picture is pretty; but it has
it's terrible dangers.