The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-07-02
The Drunkard's Wife.

All agree that home happiness is mainly de-
pendent on the character and conduct of the
woman who is the wife and the mother. If
she be patient, unselfsh, loving, and true, she
can alleviate the distresses and heighten the
joys of the household, past all calculation. If
these characteristics be wanting in her, no skill
on the part of the other members of the family,
no comforts which wealth purchases, can make
the household happy family. The wife is the
pivot on which all turns.
These admitted facts ought to make every
husband and child do every possible thing to
sweeten the temper of the wife and mother, to
relieve her as far as practicable of the burdens
which press her, to remove all obstacles from
her way, and surround her with an atmosphere
sweet, wholesome, and exhiarating When we
men and boys have done all we can for her who
is wife and mother, her lot is hard one.
Coarse natures undervalue womanhood, and its
great privations and sufferings. Coarse men
and boys think that they have the hard side
Of life, while "the women" which means wife,
mother, and sister, are only recipients of the re-
suit of the labors of the men," which means
these great husbands, fathers, and brothers.
1t is time for us to learn better. Let Young
America know that his sisters can 90 much bet
ter without him than he can without them,
although each sex is necessary to the corpie-
tion of the other Men are much more help
less beings than women. 1t is the women who
make the atmosphere of home. But they are
very dependent on the men. A good husband
helps good woman to be good wife. A bad hus-
band may cause good woman to become bad
wife. If sister disturbs her brothers life, may
it not he because he has embittered hers? We
steep bitter herbs in fountain, and then COM
-, ~ potarc tboroof ro not c1yoof Thinly
of woman's lot. She has to endure all things
and keep still.
Reflect upon what drunkards wife must
endure. She has to attend to all domestic
duties, and live without the support and love
of her husband. In addition, she must bear
the modification which falls to the lot of one
whose mate is the slave Of a besotting vice.
Then she is in constant trepidation lest her
husband commit some disgraceful and destruc-
tive crime while he is in state Of inebriation.
She knows that he cannot succeed in business,
and cannot rise in his profession, as drunk
ard cannot be trusted, however honest his ma
ture She knows that it is downhill course.
1t may be slower or faster, but it is a constant
descent. She must increase her exertions to
make and to save as he increasingly squanders.
Amid all self-sacrifce, and most strenuous
effort to keep the family together, and to main.
tain decency of appearance, she knows that all
her ingenuities sacrifices, painstakings, must
90 without the reward of appreciation. 1t is
always we'll for man to set for himself the
rule of doing right, because it is right, and
without regard to any rewards it may Sc
cure or may miss; yet God has so made us that
we desire our virtuous efforts to be appreciated.
Every husband knows how he is sustained
and cheered in his work by the reflection that
his wife appreciates all his labor in behalf of
herself and the family. Women seem to need
loves appreciation more than men do. 1t is
only the worst portion of their sex to whom
admiration seems more desirable than love.
The whole world may be ignorant of what a
good wife is doing.
If her husband only knows it, and admires
it, and praises her for it, she is content. How
long she will work at pair Of slippers, or
smoking jacket, or foot-rest, feeding her heart
on the delightful expectation of seeing the
qualification of her husband when be discovers
what she has been doing for him. A drunkard's
wife has none of this. He is growing more and
more besottcd. Less and less he perceives the
beauty of her character and behavior, as his
sensibilities become blunter and blunter; what
is it to him how things are about his house, if
he be not able to see what is visible or hear
what is said ?-Rcy. DR.. Deems, in Young
dnerjcn"