Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-12-10
Husbands and wives.

Husbands and Wives.
" We have no more right TO fling an un-
necessary shadow over the spirits Of those
with whom we baye to do, than we have to
fling q stone and injurc them Yet this
finging shadows is a very common sin, and
one to which women are particularly ad-
dicted. o, what blessing is merry,
cheerful woman in household one whose .
spirits are not affected by wet days or lit /
tie disappointments, or whose milk OF hui
man Kindness does not sour in the sunshine |
of prosperity. Such woman in the dark /
est hours brightehs the house like little |
piece of sunshiny weather. The magnet I
ism Of her smile, the electrical brightness
Of her looks and movements infect every one. /.
The children 60 to school with sense
= .'t'~c oroet 70 be achieved her
queror's spirit No matter how people
worry and annoy him all day, far of her
presence shines, and he whispers to himself
g at home | shall find rest" So day by
day she literally rcnews his strength and
energy, and if you know a man with a
beaming face, kind heart and a prosper
Gus business, in nine cases out Of ten you
will find he has a wife Of this kind. For
nothing is more certain than that the man
who is married must ask his wife for per-
mission to be happy and wealthy. Blessed
is he who hath cheerful wife the world
may be a valley Of strife" to him, but his
home is a land Of Beuah, haven Of rest
and quiet and his life Is made up of
cheerful yesterdays and conddant to-mor-
rows
Now grant these and every other ee-
ment of happiness to the suky woman, and
she will contriye out Of them to make her
self aud everybody else miserable If she
condesccnds to speak, her voice is perpetu-
ally going into spiteiu italics; but gener-
ally she is possessed of dumb devil, and
goes about the house Aingng shadows
over her husband heart aud her chidrcn's
faces wrapped IN a mantle of the most irri-
( tating silence--a silence which is o most
unfair misnomer; for, though she is tongue
tied by the demon that controls her, She
conlrives to make the chairs and the crock
cry and everything she handles speak for
her Even her garments acquire an ag-
grcssiye look, her dress rustles, her shoes
creak and her face makes you believe that
the fable of the Medusa might after all be
fact
Her children eat their food and escape to
school as rapidly as possible her husband
sghs and the nameess, hopeless shadow
B creeps from his heart to his brow You
= would know the man by the weary and yet
} impatient manner in which he leaves his
home. have often watched him get into
the streetcars, buy a newspaper, and slightly
shake himself as if to fling Oft an incubus.
Perhaps he succeeded for few hours !;
then he must 90 home again Shall he try
and proptiate this household tyrant2 But
how? have known good and wise men
I fling down before it their manhood, their
d cherished tastes, their lifelong habits, aud
. receive in return a reconciliation that wa,
IS an irony, inasmuch as it was followed by 0
/. long, fearful aiter-sulking infinitely harder
= to bear than the primary assault.
L | remember well couple with whom
o was for years on terms Of the closest init
= macy. The husband was gentleman o.
b Gods creation. He filled with honor al
: important office under the United State
; government; he had a large private for
+ tune which he spent generously on his
r family, for he desired aboveall things their
e happiness. His wife was young, beautiful
l. and had been raised by his love from life
;. Of bitter poverty and toll. She had a
splendid home, a devoted husband, and four
fine sons and daughters Her power over
her husband was very great, aud not the
weakest Of her weapons was this sulky
fearful, injured silence, But she had nc
=, taste she strained the bow too far and il
snapped shall never forget the month";
. of misery preceding their final separation
y And in society he bore all the blame
- Was his wife not strictly yirtuous2 Wa
=. she not a careful and conscientious mother
, an acknowledged beauty, and patteri
- housekeeper ? What then did he want
He answered them as the old Roman ii,
. on similar occasion. STOPPING down h
! loosened his shoe inquiring, Is it no
well made? Yet none of you can tel
! where it pinches me-" That is just th
i kind Of misery. Try if you can bear
y pinching shoe month after month, year ai
u ter year--yet it is not so irritating as
a sulky woman.
- Husbands as general rule are wha
= wives make them. If a woman complain
W to me Of an unsympathizing husband, | lister
" with closed mouth and closed heart too
;, | do not deny but what there are mel
too utterly bad for any woman to influence
. but men do not become bad, sour, ant
= spoiled by some sudden lightning stroke
i a all at once A woman OF any penetration
y must see suspicious circumstances in sucl
- " before marriage, and people who run risk
- voluntarily, ought not to expect immunit,
I from consequences And if the man was
e, good man when she married him, and grew
bad under her management, and in her soci
- ETY., she cannot be altogether blameloss. De
10 pend upon it, there are as many ill-use'
- husbands as wives, only the former keep
70 stiff upper lip about their mistake, and tn
!, latter bring theirs before the footlight
20 aud ask the world to cry with them.-
NJ Golden Age.