The crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1877-1878, 1877-12-27
THE SWEET WOMAN.
a Very Imaginative Picture-But One
that Has some Happy Touches.


Dttttu HtIhu'
The sweet woman is questionable in
loving her husband, and him only--in not
caring to attract idle admiration or the
homage of the more serious adorcr When
She married, il was for love, pure and sim.
pie; and she did not look to her wifehood
as her papers of release from control and
her charter for unlimited freedom She
has not sailed her pcrilOus shadows, even
in the most innocent ilirtations, and she
does not think it the confession of her
charms that she should be made the center
of questionable attraction, any more than
she thinks it, the mark Of superior under
standing 10 oppose her husband and for
the better assertion Of her own indcpcn-
dcncc and dignity She has no very dcci,
dcd opinion on politics, woman's rights,
or the doctrine Of fate and free will She
is not radical TO his conservatism;
when he is liberal, or an agnostic
when he is revcrent. She slips inscnsi-
bly,, and by the natural training of love
into the groove Of thought where he finds
himself, and holds his position 10 be the
cost of all because it is his She is more
content with his fame than she would he
with her own; indeed She finds hers in
his, and would not dare to be Il parsonage
on her own account. she desires for her.
self, her honor and supreme personal
happiness, only his love, only his health
and, prosperity; and 50 long as he is
safe, her star is without cloud to veil
its brightness. Her children, while little
are not burdcnSOmc intrudcrs whose
advent she counts ss the greatest mis-
fortune that could heial her; nor are
they impOrlunatc rivals when grown
up, as her sister who lives only for
dress and gaycty, and she who cares
for nothing but intellectual display and
masculine ambition, find theirs She
loves them with the honest, hearty love
ofonc who finds nothing 10 be asham-
ed Of in her instincts, and who thinks
that dress and pleasure, ambition and
public life, are of no account com
pared to the happiness OF love and the
glorious possession Of children, She
loves and is loved and fulfills all her
duties towards those TO whom she has
given life without II thought of self or
regret for sacrifice. As they grow up
She is their friend, and her daughters
treat her us sister, if TO the sons
she is something more precious thar
any sister could possibly bc-mothcr and
sister, ideal Of womanhOOd and saint in
one. She is Il true friend 10 those whom
she adopts into the sacred circle Of her al-
fcCtOnS: and no one ever knew her capri
ciOus or diSoyal. Young men go to her
AS do girls 10 pour out the tale Of their
troubles into her ear, but no one makes
her coniidntc of his sins. She is pure in
heart as in deed, and instinCtiycly they
who have dark spots in their histories con
ceal them from her carefully, and let her
see nothing that would degrade them in
her eyes She has nothing in common
with the horrors of life, if the affections
and the sorrows are hers by the right of
the participation of sympathy. Little chill.
drcn crowd round her as round friend
already known to them, and she seems TO
understand them us by Il second sense, and
TO sOOthc them when no one else can. Her
servants love her as much as they re
spcctcd her and supplement their duty by
an attachment which gives it personl
charm too often wanting; for she is wise
in her management Ol them, as well as
generous, and treats them with human re
speCt as well as with the guidance of a
superior intelligence In society, when
she appears with her sweet, bright pure
face, which is lovely from youth TO age,
she is the light Of on's eyes to more than one.
Whatever sorrows she has had, she has never
lost sunny, frank atiectionateness which was
her earliest characteristics, and none OF her
trialshavCworn on her temper.