The Republican journal., 1871-05-04

nevertheless it is fact, and firm evidence
tnat the strength of woman's new posi-
tlon must rest as basis on masculine
weakness. 1t would be better were it
otherwise; but, so long as men prefer
loveliness to logic, it will be as now.
The hands Of the gods turn off nothing
without a flaw. Marriage, declared to
be divine even in its transplanted state,
is not without defects. The wife gives
it the poetical the husband the practical
element; but his practically is so agres-
sive that it is in constant danger of ma
terialism. He gains, she loses, by their
blended condition He is fresh and free,
while she is worn and fettered because their
equality is only in name, and because he
exacts what she is too willing to concedc
Whatever view one may have touching
wedlock and woman's rights, it is irritat
| ing to be forced to the conclusion that
| the very men who rave about the beat-
| tude of marriage and the sanctity of home
| regald the former as Il convenient part
nershp in which woman does the work
| and bears the bondage, and consider the
| latter a good enough place to 60 when
| other doors are shut. 1t is not strange
| that women resent the idea that what they
believe-the brief while they are opermit-
| ted-to be n sacrament of love, is little
else than d protractcd culinary and ma
ternal training. If they have nature in
| them, they have good cause for protest
| ing against the prosaic office of adjusting
! 5hrt-buttons and destroying temper and
/ complexion over kitchen ranges. espe-
| cially when such office is paraded in the
name of sacred sympathy, and whatever
| in humanity ia redolent of the divine.
There are higher things than mince-pies
| and mendng, though all the simpletons
from Solomon to Smith proclaim the con-
! trary. If men look on marriage as might
| be inferred from their utterances why do
| they not wed cooks and chambermaid5.
and save the expensive luxury of taking
peers who, at least before they have learn
ed better, demand appreciation OF their
virtues and reciprocity for their affections?
1t is time men had found out that all the
liberty and loyalty and devotion should
not be on one side that light and peace
| and sweetness, ease, rest, and wit, bright
talk and sentimental emptations-with
something of the old days when gentle
woong edged even the ledger with ro-
nance, and bonni vulgar bank-books
with velvet and gold-should keep their
place among the household gods. Even
their homes spirits OF grace and presences
of gentleness, the things that cheer and
comfort and stimulate; pleasant changes
from day to day; calm mornings and soft
evenings for Interchange OF sympathy
and thought. They need the goddess
there whose glance once brought the sun
shine to their impassioned eyes, ami the
rustic Of whose robe made music To their
eager ears and she will be there, not SO
young nor SO rosy perhaps, but rounded
into larger lite and more sanctitied with
Joys and sorrows shared together, if they
will but let her walk in the broader and
higher ways of Cultures royal garden.
Give, o man, to her you have made
your partner for life the fullest freedom
to grow and expand in richness and re
sourse. Grant to her every opportunity
to cultivate the love of the beautiful born
in her soul Encourage in her always
the daintiness and desire which is graft
fed by graceful and attractive forms
Make her lovely by steady yielding OF
your love, and stand between her and the
vulgar cares which are ever in danger Of
marring the tinenesses of her conscicn-
tious nature! Do not let her sink to the
dreary routine which hired servants are
only too glad to follow, Bear her on the
upper crest of the pillows of advancement,
and you will always find her in the sur
ges of life near to your heart and even
with your lips
To be firmly held mans allectional
intellectual, and spiritual nature should
be appealed to, and she who can do thus
is the queen of his heart Such queen
every wife should be, and will be too, ii,
after being wisely chosen, she be tender
1r aud Low ,Srl, oh
wife, and IL husband worthy of her, there
will be unity as well as union, and that
must be before this is possible The ideal
always rises with attainment, but when
tinencss and culture and sympathy are
conjoined, the ideal, nearly as in may be
on this planet, will have been reached.
Nature makes women wives, and men
husbands, in too liberal II sence. Mono
gamy is u feminine instinct, polygamy Il
masculine passion. Left to her free uu-
folding, with love rs guide, woman be
come wife and Wifely in the truest highest,
purest sence. Man needs preparation,
discipline, conviction, Il certain sacrifice OF
his original self, to fit him for the custodi
anship OF woman's happiness, though he
is accustomed to tlatter himself with The
belief that to her he is the generous .joyr
to the expcctant Danac. He is better
fitted for celibacy than woman is, rs
society is now constituted but when was
he strictly Il celibate? The world il FULL
of monsters and exceptions, but It's
bachelors are for the most part So callcl
to preserve them from u harshcr name.
Marriage in some form IS unqucstlonably
the law, and he who seeks to avoid it
usually evades it only To seek the ben
efits without assuming the responsibilities
of marriage has been the bachel0rhood of
all time There may be much to be said iii
its favor, but who will he bold enough to
say it? 1t is the Isis of social life; ant
profane indeed will be the hand that rcnd5
the veil
AT the risk OF seeming sentimental, it
may be stated that woman's rights have
their foundation and elimination i'll love
liness and love. The subject is far from
new. II had its illustrators centuries ago,
more famous and gifted than now. The
most potent OF the advocates of woman,
rights are not seen on the public roStrum,
nor in the columns of their special organs.
Their influence, though unheralded, is
widely felt, for they work silent miracles
in the thousand beautiful ways to which
we have grown too much accustomed to
appreciate them fully. These advocates
ftlC III CNclf anu tttiltu DN lu'
names of sister, sweetheart, wife, mother.
We are all advancing to the clearer light,
and feel more and more the injustice that
has been done to woman.
We shall yet have new Aspasias and
Zenobias and Hypatias, to tell us by living
deeds and burning eloquence the sad
truth which men strive to hide from them
selves. And we shall compel A>pasia to
be what Plutarch declares she was. We
shall not drag Zcnobia at the wheels of Il
triumphal chariot. We shall not stone TO
death the gifted Hypatia. For, with all
the faults and errors of the century, this
is the age and country in which woman,
is esteemed and revered the most and iIl
which through her love and lovelness ALI
the rights her nature demands will be
first established and maintained.
THoI iIr lie WANDERED. Carlyle re-
lates in his History of the French Revou-