Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-06-07

&
was only weak. not wicked He did not
waste his small substance in whisky and
| gambling. he smoked an ill-smelling
| pipe, but that was his only vice. He
brought all his money to mis- wife, not so
much submissiyely as instinctively, and
he admired her, and deferred to her; and
she, like many another stirring, active,
capable woman, really liked the inotfens-
i've little creature whom ii is difficult not
imagine her despising.
And so by-and-by he died, that is, he
just faded out into little more than his
previous insigniticance, and so disap-
peared from the earth, for his personality
could withstand no diminution. What,
then, does this perverse woman, his wife
do, but concentrate herself on a grave.
stone, giving him thus more so.idity in
his death than all the quintessence of his
whole life could furnish. What possible
editication in perpetuating the memory of
man who for thirty or forty years has
never accumulated so much as a grave
stoEe?-a man who had introduced six
children into the world without making
the slightest provision for their future, and
then SUNK out of it himself, leaving his
wife to bear all the brunt of it, besides
x Il
all, our annalist is nearer right than we
have accredited him; for IS il useful
thing to rear six persons after such spir-
itless pattern as this? What the world
wants is strong, sturdy, upright men and
women. 1t has no need OF any more lazy,
shiitless, improvident people han it now
has, hanging in swarms upon the skirts
OF the industrious and prudent. But
leaving that question out of view, and
taking the six children as already existent,
and therefore to be looked after-what
form OF reasoning is that, and on what
principle is it based, which counts the
nursing and training, with hands and feet
and voice, with watchful eye and loving
heart, of six boys and girls whose lives
are of infinite moment, as nothing use
full while chiseling out a grave stone for
man whom no one but his wife cares to
remember, and whom she can remember
just as we'll without stone as with, is to
be considered mark of very worthy and
exemplary womanhood!
The mistake which lay dormant in the
biographer's mind-the same fundamental
and fatal mistake made by many who
write of the interests of woman, is that
the work is useful, dignified, sufficient,
which brings money. Wives themselves
are far too apt to rate their own services
low because they earn no money. Hus-
bands even, if they are very low down in
the scale of being, look upon the money
furnished their wives as a sort of gratuity
bestowed. Whereas among the very best
work done in the world, the most useful,
the most essential, the most elevated is
work that earns no money, that has no
relation to money except to make a con
tinual drain upon it. All right minded
men know this, or learn it as soon as they
are taught it by high minded wives, and
delight in ii by virtue OF their own nobil-
ity. A very large part of the work that
earns money consists in changing raw
and useless material into beauty, conven-
fence. comfort He who converts rags
into paper, flax into linen, loan il to corn,
metal into cooking stoves, earns money,
serves his race, and deserves well of the
republic. But he who converts helpless,
shapeless, pudgy little animal into an
honorable and influential citizen of
great Nation does an infinitely greater and
finer work than any mere newer of wood
or drawer of water He is indeed work
man that needeth not to be ashamed,
though in a thousand instances he never
directly earns penny during his whole
lifetime. The one duty of the race is its
own elevation. Man does this indirectly
by material work; woman does it directly
by moral work Thousands of men would
find themselves without profit under the
sun, except the accumulation of a stupid
and useless fortune, were ii not for the
wonderful wives at home who transmute
this fortune into intelligence, education,
elegance, strength, and so give the family
position and power Thousands of men,
left to themselves, could only compass
their own grave-stones, but cast by kindly
Fate into the hands of able women, the
quarried rock is fashioned into monu-
ment more durable than brass, into a
living temple whose corner stone is sure,
whose maidstone shall be brought forth
with shoutings, whose
dome OF many-colored glass
Stains The white radiance OF eternity"
-GdN Hamilton, in Harper's Bazay.