The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-05-19

O4NS ~
quite the contrary; but this would be the re-
suit If they had their own way. their love being
| at sll times more timid than confident.
To home staying women brilliant husband
courtt d BY the world. and loving what courts
him, is painful cross to bear, however much
| beloved-the pain, Ia fact, being propUrtionate
1 to the love. Perhaps no life exemphfies this
| 30 much as Moore's. Poor "Bessy" suffered
many things because Of the looseness OF the
apron-stripg by which her rowing husband was
tied, and the length OF the tether which he
allowed himself Fd,JdAone anaereso as he
was, his incessant futterlngs out OF range and
| reach caused her many sad hour and IN
after years she vas often heard to say that the
| happiest time OF her life was when his mlpd
| had begun total, for then she mad him all to
herself, andno one came IN between tnem-ao q
great world swept HIM away to be the idol OF
salon, and left her alone at home casting up
her accounts with life, and quaking at The re-
suit that came out. When the Driliancy and the
idolatry came to an end, then her turn began;
and she tied up her dulled and faltering idol
close to her side for ever after, and was happier
| to have him there than When he was at hls
brightest, and o rover. Many wife has felt
the same vixen sickness has hyoken down the
| stl ong msI'S pow-r to o weakness below her
own, and made her. so long the inferior, now
the more powerful of the two, and the su-
|
| firm, tight hand peculiar to women. and ties
HIM TO her apron string 80 that he cannot es-
cape. 1t M quite matter ofpride with her
| that she has got him into such good order
He ,obeys her 80 implicitly about his medicine,
and going to bed early, and wrapping himself
up. an avoidance OF draugEts and night ar,
that she feels all the reflected glory OF one who
has con aneged hero. The Samson who used
| to DEFY the elements, and break her careful
strings like bands OF tow, has at last laid his
head in her lap, and suffered hlRlsef to be
covered by her apron. 1t is worth while to
have hadthe aux ETY. and loss OF his illness for
the sake OF the submission resulting; AMI she
generally ends by gaining o hold over him
which he can never shake off again. 1t is pitt
full. though, to see the stronger life thus dwarf
| ed and bound; but women like 1t, and while
the need for it lasts men must submit.
The danger is lest the habit OF the apron
string should become permanent: for it is 80
perilOusIy pleasant to be petted and made
much OF by women, that few men cln resist
the temptation when it offers; and many have
been ruined for the remainder of. their days by
an illness which gave them up into the keep
ing of wife and sisters those treslde ar midas
who will coddle all the real manliness out OF
their finest heroes, il they are let: II this KIDD
OF thing occurs at the break OF life, the neezzo
cinasnSno between maturity and age, it is
douby difficult to throw Oh; and many o man
who had good years Of vigGr and strength be-
fore him IT. he bad kept up to the mark, sinks
all at once into,afete senilny because his Wo-
mankind eot frightened ct that last small at
tack of has, and thought the best way to pre-
serve him from another was to weaken him by
over care.
Pehaps the greatest misfortune that can be.
fall man is to have been an only son, brought
up by tender and timid widow mother. 1t is
easy to see at o gauce, amoug crowd OF boys,
who has been educs ted under exclusively feml-
- "a, hn 1anc v
the fantastic tunic-generoly kind OF hybrid
between tuRic and q frock-the lavish use OF
embroidery, the soft pretty behaved manner,
the clean unroaghened hands, all mark the boy
OF whom his mother has so often wished that
he had been girl, and whom she has made as
like girl as possible. His intellectual edu-
cation has been as rnboylike as his daily
breeding. Mothers boys are taught to play
the piano, to amuse their selves with paint
ing, or netting, or perhaps little woodwork
in the evenings-anythipg to keep them quietly
seated by the family tatle, without an outhreak
but ,tney are never taught to ride, to hunt, to
shoot, to swim, to play atcrlcket, football. or
billiards, unless there il . stalwart uncle about
who takos tho roiuo In bis orn h"nti1 at inic94
and Insists on having, word TO say about hls
nepheHs education. There is danger In all,
and evil in some Of these things; aud women
cannot bear that those they love should run the
risk of either. Wherefore their boys are modest
and virtneus truly, but they are not manly; anu
when they 90 out into the world, az they must
sooner or later, they are either laughed at
for their priggshnsss, OF they 70 10 Tbe
mother has allowed them to learn nothing
that will be of any use to them, and they en-
ter the great srena wholly unprepared elther
to fight or resist, to push their own way or 10
take their own part. They have been Kept tled
up to the apron string to the last moment, snd
only when absolutely forced by the necessity
Of @ 7ents will she cut the knot and let them 20
free. But she holds on to the last moment.
Even when the time comes for college life and
learning, she often goeg with her darling, and
takes lodging in the town, that she may be
near at hand to watch over his health and
destruction. The chances ale that youth 30
brought up never becomes real man, or worth
his salt anyhow. He is prig II he is good,
q debauchee of the worst kind u ne kicks over
the traces at all. He is mora likely the first,
carrying the mark OF the apron string round
his wrist for life. Like tame falcon used to
the hood, and the perch, and the lure home,
no matter what the temptation OF the quarry
aheld, he is essentially domestic man, at
ease only in the society Of women; fussy
man, small man, delicate in health, and with
dread OF strong measures, physical political
or mental; crotchety man, and given to pas
sing qua ckerit 8, but not q man ut for mans
society, or 1Or mau WOrks WHICH, tucro are
many boys, instead Of only one, in widows
family, the opposite Of all this is the case. AS
coon as they lave escaped from the nursery,
they have escaped from all control whatsoever;
and if one wants to realize puerile pandemo--
mum OF dirt, discomfort, noise, and general
disorganzation, the best place IN the world IS
the household Of feeble spirited mother OF
many sons, where there is no controlling mas
culine influence.
Daughters, who are naturally and necessari-
" tied up to the mothers apron strings, suffer
occasionally from too tight a strain; though
certainly it is not the fault of the present day
that girls are too closely fettered, too home.
staying, or subdued. Still, every now and then
one comes across matron who has crushed
all individuality out Of her family. and whose
grown up daughters are still children to her
in go-carts and leading-strngs. They may be
the least attractive Of their sex, but mother
Of this kind has one fixed delusion respecting
them-namely, that the world is full OF wolves
eager to devour her lambs, and that they are
only safe when close to her maternal apron
and browsing within an inch OF the tether