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

n Il
suit II they had their own way, their love being
at all times more timid than confident.
10 home staying women, brilliant husband
| courtt by the world, and loving what courts
him, is painful cross to bear. however much
beloved-the pain, III fact, beng proportionate
to the love. Perhaps no life exempllfes this
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 FataNonc Gnoroso as he
was, his lncessant hutterlngs out OF range and
reach caused her many @ sad hour !; and in
after years she was often heard to say that the
happiest time OF her life was when his mind
| had begun to fail, for then sho had him all to
herself, and no one came in between them-no
great world swept HIM away to be tho idol of o
salon, and left her alone at home casting up
suit that cameout. When the priancy and the
idoatry came to an end, then her turn began;
and she tied up her dulled and taltering idol
close to her side for ever after. and was happier
I TO have him there than when he was at his
| brightest, and q rover. Many wife has felt
the same when sickness has broken down the
sti ong mans power to o weakness below her
own, and made her: so long the inferior, now
the more powerful of the two, and the su-
| preme: She gathers up the reins with that
firm, tight hand peculiar to women. and ties
him to her apron string so that he cannot es-
| cape. 1t ls quite matter Of pride with her
that she has got him into such good order
He ebeys her 50 implicitly about his medicine,
and going to bedsearly, and wrapping himself
up, an avoidance of draughts and night air,
that she feels all the ref1 looted glory OF one who
has conquered a1hero. The Samson who used
strings like bands of tow, has at last laid his
| head in her lap, and suffered hnnse.f to be
covered by her apron. 1t is worth while to
have had the anx ETY. and loss ofhls illness for
the sake OF the submission resulting; ana she
| generally ends by gaining hold over him
which he can never shake off again. It is pitt
ful, though, to see the stronger life thus dwarf
| cd and bound but women like it, 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
much of by women, that few men Gun 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 tireslde AR midas
who Will coddle all the real manliness out OF
their finest heroes, if they are let. If thrs kind
OF thing occurs at the break of life, the mezzo
c.nnasno between maturity and age, it is
doubly difficult to throw off; and many man
who had good years Of vigor and strength be-
fore for him II he had kept up to the mark, sinks
| mankind got frightened at that last small at
| tack of his, 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 q man is to have been an only sor brought
up by tender and timid widow mother 1t is
easy to see at glance, among crowd of boys,
who has been educated under exclusively femi,
nine influence. The long curled shining hair.
the fantastic tunic-generally kind OF hybrid
between tunic and frock-the lavish use Of
the clean unroughened hands, all mark he bow
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-
catlon has been as unboylike as his daily |
breeding. Mothers boys are taught to play
the piano, to amuse themselves with paint |
ing; or netting, or perhaps little woodwork |
in the evenings anything to keep them quietly |
seated by the family table, without an outbreak |
OF boylsh restlessness or incynvenient energy: j
! IsIe they are never taught to ride hnnt. fo
shoot p to play at crackef sootbal 81
aale Id ms own hands at times;
and insists on having q word to say about hissll
nephew education There Isl IA al, ~ q
ana eSiI IN sonie OF these things; aud women
risk Of either. Wherefore their boys are modest |
and virtuous truly but they are not manly; and |
when they go out into the world, as they must
sooner or later, they are either laughed at |
bad by the very force Of reaction. The |
mother has allowed them to learn nothing |
that will be OF any use to them, and they en- |
ter the great arena wholly unprepared either |
to fight or resist, to push their own way or to |
take their own part. They have been kept tied
up. to the apron string to the last moment. and |
only when absolutely forced by the necessity |
of vents will she cut the knot and let them 60
free. But she holds on to the last moment.
Even when the time comes for college life and
learning. she often goes with her darling. and
near at hand to watch over his health aud
morals, and continue her careful labors for his
destruction. The chances axe that youth SO
brought up never becomes real man, or worth
his salt anyhow. He Is o prig II he is good,
debauchee of the worst kind If he kicks over
the traces at all. He is moro likely the first,
carrying the mark OF the apron string round
his wr,st for life. Like tame falcon used to
\ 1r1rA
no matter what the temptation Of the quarry
afield. he is essentially domestic man, at
ease only in the society OF women; fussy
q dread OF strong measures, physical political
or mental; crotchety man, and given to pas
sing okere M 9. but not I man iit :or mans
.:cany boys, instead Of only one, in o widows
family, the opposite Of all this is the case. AS
soon as they have escaped from the nursery:
they have escaped from ali control whatsoever;
MUM Of dirt, discomfort, noise, and general
disorganlzation, the best place IN the world is
the household Of o feeble spirited mother OF
many sons, where there is no controlling mas
Daughters. who are naturally and necessari-
ly tied up to the mothers apron strings, suffer
occasionally from too tight q strain; though
certainly it is not the fault OF the present day
staying, or subdued. Still, every now and then
one comes across q m ltron who has crushed
all individuality out Of her family. and whose
grown up daughters are still children to her
| in go-carts and leading They may be
the least attractive Of their sex, but mother
| Of this kind has one fixed delusion respecting
thens-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
| stake. These are the girls who become hope.
| less old maids Men have an instructive dread
| Of the maternal apron string. They do not
want to marry mother as we'll as q wife, and
| to live under q double dominion and redupli-
Cate opposition. It is all very well to say that
| ther efore more likely to make good wife than
/ many others seeing that il ia 0niy tranafar