Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1872-07-16

Married Bachelors.
Men continually mistake their vocation
in life, and undertake duties for which
they have no natural qualification. The
impulsivo artist who considers himself q
better man Of business than his lawyer.
and who will therefore manage his own
affairs, comes to grief by the way; The
famous clown who complains that he isa
first rate tragedian spoilt, and disappears
into the provinces to play Hamlet to the
natives. as often as not breaks down in
the ghost.scenc, and tails OF in q gag
that sets tho back benches in roar; the
thick-witted squire who cannot keep q
secret to save his life, and who never
sees farther ahead than to-day, thinks
his righteous mission diplomacy. because
he can put his tenants into good humor
on midday by his bluff jokes. and so un'
dcrtakcs the most delicate bit of social
intrigue in his neighborhood. with the
result of universal confusion and q hast
encd catastrophe; and the poet, whose
hands, are as white and nervsless as u
woman's and whose life ID q dream, Ia
ments that he was not sent TO sea at an
early age, because the "clash OF cle-
ments" delights him and gives him ideas
for brace OF sonnets. II these and
other such square men can be kept from
carrying out their mistake into action.
and prevented from thrusting themselves
into round holes. it is all right-they are
saved from failure and provided with q
grievance. either of which Is sn inestim
able boom but If they get the upper
hand of circumstances, and are allowed
to realize thoir phautasy. then they make
q mess of their lives which no after ef-
forts can repair. One of the mistake in
to which some of thom fall is marriage.
There arc men who have no vocation for
marriage. Home is word that has no
real meaning for them--a place where
there is no charm and ~ little duty. A
wife is a tie, clog, an incumbrsncs, or
at best u painful nccessty-anything but
"half" better or worse, helper. or
companion and children are locusts that
devour hunters and opera-stalls, kid
gloves and "littls dinners" at an alarm
ing rate of progression, and finally grow
up into tall men and women who make
the best work of tailors and hair-dressers
a patent anachronism. These mon mar.
red one day, because they had committed
the objectionable folly of giving way to
temporary madness they called love,
and they recovered by tho process; or
they sold themselves for 30 much in the
stocks, TO find the bargain when conclud-
ed too bitter to bo digested. They are
bachelors by nature, and no legal ties
can make them anything else. Their
line is ESSENTIALLY single, and they have
no notion of life q de,tx, They give up
no old habits of their bachelor days be-
cause Of the wife at home, recognize no
new duties because Of their change OF
state. The utmost concession they
make to their condition is TO be seen TO.
gether in formal society, and TO receive
formal company at homo. For anything
closer or moro domesticated--ior tete-a.
tete evening passed with the wife alone,
Tor pleasant, littlO jaunt together, renew
ing the love.time and the honeymoon,
for conversation carried on with grace.
with spirit, with desire to please or to
shine where she is the only listener, for
anything like home joys or home pride
they have no more vocation or desire
than they have for rocking the cradle up
stairs as the small locustS successiyely
arrive. Toayours perdrir is the text on
which they found the acted sermon OF
their lives; and in their fear OF getting
prsmaturely tired of their matrimonial
partridge, they are careful to take her
society only in infnitesimal doses, and
not TO risk the chaces of being cloyed by
surfeit. TGnsley's Magazine.