The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1874-10-08

By PEARL RIVERS in n. O. Picayune.

/ IBY PEARL RIVERS in n. o. Picayune.
/ Sooner or later the crack will come.
That is what used to believe before
knew what it was to be woman; don't
believe it now; / wish did, for then
could prophesy happy, sudden end to
the trials and tribulations of more than
one brave little body I know.
would say this: ''Never mind, little
woman, when the babies get too many,
the dollars too few, the husband too cross,
and the work too hard, you can just turn
coward, break your heart on the sly and
| go straight on to glory"
But suppose l should dare say this to
| the pale-faced, over-worked wife and
mother around the corner? Why, she
would drive me out of the house for a
pussy-cat Old Care may knock away
with all his might; at every blow of his
/ hammer the gold OF her heart will give
out full, true ring. That woman's
/ back will break am pretty sure it
will, some day-but her heart, never it
is as sweet and sound at the core as the
sweetest and soundest of rosy-cheeked
apples
1 know another woman widow and
childless. sss.
She stands alone, a watcherov graves;
God has broken her tendrils and felfed her
oak, and yet, the loving kindness
of this lonely woman makes many
barren life burst into blossom
and bloom like Aaron's almond rod,
her hands are fairly fragrant with good
deeds.
The shadows of her graves fall heavy,
very, very heavy across her life, some
times, but if she sits in the shadow, she
sings of thesunlight, and do you think her
heart is broken? If so, blessed be the
pieces! the smallest is more precious than
the crownjewel of a queen.
Fool woman in love, and before you
get half through making pocket-memo-
randum Of the signs she has sighed, and
the tears she will shed oyer the loss of
your precious self, you will hear her
singing and chirping away in snug little
nest with a tenderer, and more constant
mate than you could ever have been to
her.
Take away health and give her sickness;
she will say Goods will be DONE" and
bear it so sweetly and so patiently, that
draws her family closer together and
makes her room the brightest in the house
the room where the young children
come with their playthings and the older
ones with their vexations and doubts.
She gives a smile and tender glance of
approval to one, cherry bit of advice
or a soothing word to another, and her
heart, to all.
Take away riches and give her poverty;
she will accept it with gracious courtesy
look up in your face with her sweet,
soft eyes, and say, ''Never mind, dear;
if we can't get whole loaf, We can be
happy on half, step out of her silk
dress and look altogether so bewitchingly
sweet and simple and helpful in her cotton
print and housekeepers apron, that you are
ready to declare she was cut out, from the
crown of her bright, quick little head to the
sole of her springy little foot for poor
mans wife.
Hunt her down with the blood hounds
of SANDER, Envy, Malice and Alum
charitableness, and when you think
they have caught her, and stop your
ears to shut out the death cry, she turns
at bay, draws up her slender figure to
its full height, and faces the whole pack
with such a deliciously daring little
laugh that you shout Bravo in spite Of
yourself.
No, no a woman's heart was not made
to be broken 1t was made to bear, not to
break; to take love and 10 give it; to COM
fort and be comforted; to warm, to bright
en- and to bless. To be as tender as the
coo of the dove, as fresh and breezy as the
wild rose of May and as pure and clear as
the dew-drop that sparkles 50 brilliantly
on it.
OF course, there are kind, wearing
the long, ripping robes Of a woman, who
languish and faint, and would break half
a dozen hearts Off they had room in their
narrow, selfish little bosoms to carry so
many.) And another kind, who have no
hearts to break. But these are not women.
They are only females, or ameteur women
at best. Believe me, there is nothing
God has made that is good and true, so
hard to break, as the gentle, faithful
heart of womanly woman; unless it be,
the big, staunch, honest heart of a manly
man.