The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-04-16

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Clever Mems Wives.
In one sense, this is equivalent to saying
that all men marry badly; for there is no
man who does not believe himself to be
clever We speak Just now, however, of
men who are acknowledged by the public,
or even by their friends and acquaintances,
to be men of exceptional faculty, of great
attainments, or of distinguished social
powers. The rarest thing in life is to find a
married couple possessing the same marked
characteristics, unless, indeed, they are
bound together by common link of dull
ness. We seldom find husband and wife
who are both of them equally celebrated for
their winning address, or their conversa-
tional ability, or their acquaintance with Au-
guste Compte, or their facility in verse
writing or private theatricals. Still more
seldom do we find man who is possessed
of brilliant intellectual faculties married to
woman who comes near his level. We do
not speak of literary men exclusively, al
though their marital misfortunes too often
make up the bulk of their biographies. The
general experience Of any man who mixes
freely with various grades of people, and
Keeps hiseyes open the while, is that clever
man is almost sure to have dull wife. Fur
ther, if the man have exceptionally fastidi-
GUS tastes. the woman is frequently marked
out by the vulgarityrof her dress. or man
ners, or conversation. kDrIg.t
The reason is obvious Clever men marry
badly. because they think they can float a
stupid woman In society by their own in
tellactual yigor. They consider they have
enough brains for two. OF course, nc man
actually goes into marriage for the purpose
Of trying such an experiment., but the con-
sciousness of having such power is pre-
disposing cause toward the result. Nor
does it necessarily argue vanity on the part
of clever man that he should be aware of
his ownsintelleetual yalue The echenoes are
thatia judicial faculty he is no greater fool
than, his neighbors, and if they can recog-
nize the exceptional power of his mind is
it likely that he himself will remain igno-
rant of Iit?, Nothing can be more absurd
than the popular notion that when q mans
brilliant qualities are the. talk of his social
circle, or of his country, he himself should
exhibit an idiotic ignorance of them, or else
sham on ignorance of them and gain credit
for his mock modesty. Doubtless, there
are many men who are profoundly conscious
Of the possession of all sorts of brilliant
qualities aud faculties, which are quite in
visible to their friends and neighbors; but
at present we are not talking of such FOOLS
The clever man does not marry q stupid
woman out of an illogical preference for
stupidity. -But'f in looking out for wife, he
arrogates to himself a certain liberty of
ohoitelwhioh men of smaller parts would
scarcely dare to assume A man WHO stands
five feet six, has red hair, an upturned nose,
an irascible temper, and no brainsto speak
of, is generally blessed by Providence with
some dim desire of marrying wife who
will lend to his household the charms of
grace and amiability which he could never
give it. He wishes to stand well with his
friends; he wishes to be thought desirable
addition to their dinner-tables; and doubt
less is anxious that he should be able to nsk
them to his own house without regarding
their coming as too great favor.
'If could only get wife who would do
all this for me!' he sighs Naturally he
takes every precaution in choosing his mate,
that she shall possess those compensating
qualities 1t would be absurd to say that
this man sacrificed his freedom of choice OIL
the altar OF society. Society does not care
rush whom he, or anybody else. marries
But the attitude of society toward the lady
after she is married is very important to
him, and it is for his own comfort that he
marries woman whom society is likely to
admire and love. Again and again we visit
houses which would be unbearable but for
the mistress of them; and quite as often we
meet with men whom everybody would
shun it they had not dexterous wives to
smooth down their offensive angles and give
a charm to thei, not very desirable compa-
ny. The men who THUS marry generally
forget their dependence on their wives
They get accustomed 10 the good graces of
society, aud look upon them as tribute to
their individual worth.
Now, o man of intellectual ability is apt
to put society altogether cut of the ques-