The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-05-31
A Way of Escape.
BY CAL mA1IILTON.

night be learned and call objective, in
distinction from those which spring
rom personal infirmity, and which may
De reekoned as subjective. But irrita-
ion and alienation are always painful,
you can help them or whether
TOu can not. Sharp words are not sweet
words, though your friend did not say
hem to wound you, but to relieve him
self; and, if a little isolation, separation,
would prevent the men
tai or nervous disturbance that breaks
forth in these verbal irruptiOns, we are
verify foolish not to make II our selfish
ness 4 fine art
a young man and maiden fall very
sincerely and profoundly in love with
each other, and, in the sudden impulse
of self-surrrender, think they never can
be sufficiently one. When Leander
stands waiting till Hero has quenched
her thirst, that he may have the devOut
and solemn joy of drinking from the
glass her lips have touched, it is a suffi-
clently innocent thing. When they go
to church and sit together, and cOnspic-
uously flourish the same pOcket-hand-
kerchief, the carping observer may sUg-
gest that their affection borders upon
the oDtrusive; still there is no harm
zone. But when they are married;
When they have established themselves
as hOusekeepers; when the novelty is
gone, and they are brought down to the
granite rock of character-WOe is me if
they have not elected to distinguish be-
tween mine and thine. Not that love
must be evanescent, or that housekeep-
ing IS Its sworn foe, but oneness is
chiefly OF the spirit. The twOare one in
heart, in purpose, in taste, in interest,
but IN clothes and closets and bureau
/ drawers they are two. In the common
| place of life they are JUS as dual as if
/ there had been no unity, and il is by
| strict obedience to the law of common
/ place that life is lifted out Of the sphere
of commonplace. After year or two,
suppose, Leander never dreams of drink
/ ing from HerO's glass. If he uses it, he
does it without dreaming, because there
| is no other near. 1t it not that he loves
Hero less, but he is firmly and in a
/ thousand ways conscious of her nearness
and her love, and in a thousand ways
! has assured her, and in a thousand ways
/ has perfect freedom to assure her, of his
devotion, and therefore needs no pres
sure of the unconscious glass to testify.
| But if two or three times, at the mo-
ment of tOOth-brushing, his toilette-cup
is absent from its place, the whilOm sem
| timental swimmer lifts up a great and
bitter cry to know where in the world
that cup is always going to, and why
does he have to run all over the house
/ masculine for stepping across the ROOM
every time he wants to brush his teeth ?
And Hero's heart is broken, for it was
she who took it for the gnstiffening of
her two crisp laces, and swiftly she flies
for the missing cup, rs intentas he when
he crossed his HellespOnt But why
are not such little skirmishes prevented
by the simple eXpedient of a double set
of toilette apparatus, and consequent
absolute ownership and independence ?
! Oneness of spirit is so powerfully served
by twOness of flOOking-glasses! "Oh, my
dearr' shrieks Hero, rushing to the res
cue of her smooth and spotless lingerie,
ruthlessly tumbled by Leander's re-
morseless hand rowing aronud the drawer
: for fresh handkerchief But is there
anything in the UuiOn as it was, or the
Constitution as it is, which makes the
marriage vow less binding, unless Lean
der's slight and savage impedimenta be
, superimposed upon the elaborate gros-
samer finery of HerO's more advanced
civilization? Why not devote some
humble corner of the bureau, or perhaps
the whole of the washstand drawer, to
his exclusive use, and teach him that he
meddle with any other locality at the
peril of his life? Only wealth can fur
nish separate suite of rooms to each
member of the family, but very little
foresight and thrift, combined with
strong self-respect and delicacy of per-
ception, can allOt to every one an amount
of individual ownership and control suf-
ficient to keep the peace, permit Chris
, tian developments, and minister Won
derfully to calmness and happiness.
In a novel which / read long ago, q
young wife, i'm a domestic emergency,
rushed into her husbands library with
out knocking, and, indeed, without
thinking, and was shocked day or two
after, to find the key turned upon her.
OF course the man was prig; but she
had married him, and the discovery
came too late, and, after all, came to me
alone, / believe, and not to her. Besides,
she was convinced that in his heart he
loved her, although he had committed
the horror Of locking the door against
her. But she was wise woman, and
instead of making an ado about it, she
said nothing, but went quietly to work
and proved herself not only so fond and
faithful, but so discreet and efficient q
wife, that she took the fortress by storm.
The husband not only unlocked his door,
but, / believe, transferred himself
! dressing-rOOm, and no doubt made heI
. life q burden by being perpetually un.
der foot, though that is not recorded in
history. At any rate, he opened wide
all the doors of his heart, and took hei
forever and completely into his most in,
neT confidence. And of such is the king
dom of Heaven.
One would not insert in the marriage
contract a clause that young wives
should knock at the door of their hus
bands libraries before they enter on pen
atty of being locked out; but there i!
| more danger that Impulsia GushingtoI
E will rush in too unreservedly than tina
she will approach too formally; and
e is quite unnatural, absurd and mtOlera
D BILE that husbands and wives should no
i have their library or bOudoir, or SOM
y little prophets chamber on the wall
o where they can command an inyiolabl
t solitude. No nature is strong and swee
e that does not sometimes crave, and none
: can be satisfied without securing, easily
n and at will, an absolute secluslon.
: There are preachers of a new gospe
> who maintain that II Is the per
! sonal prOnOuns when MAKE al the
n trouble in the world. But II 10 me were
= Instructed the commission Of securing
a 90 life ali the sweetness and sanctity OI
r which n is capable, would far sooner
o abolish the world than abolish its per.
/. sonaI pronOuns. The joy of giving mus
Y be proceeded by the joy of owning
5 There is no pleasure in community tha
: does not spring from spOntanelty. H,
] belongs most benignly To others whs
= belongs most completely to himself
: HUpeT's Bd=dT.