The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1877-03-18
Thr Yullftin.

THE PENALTY OF 0UEATNESS,
Patti, the noted singer whose voices |
has been heard IN every considerable city
of the civilized world, is about to be di-
vorcsd from irr husband, the Maqiis OF
Caux. on account OF incompatibility of
temper. And this division in the Mar
quis' household has renewed the old in
quiry, "why do prominent people. peo-
pie celebrated for any particular talent or
gift, SO often, compared with the poor
and the obscure, live unhappy
domestic livesg" Now we believe there
is fallacy implied in the question; that
experience proves that the rich, the tai
ented, the distinguished, do not, as
rule, live less happy married lives than
10 the plain, the obscure, and the I'M
known people who make up "thc
masses" OF the world. When plain Mr..
and Mrs. Brown discover an in
compatibility of temper between them,
and they agree to disagree, the
affair Is of no particular interest to any
but themselves and their small circle OF
friends. When the unknown Mr.. aud
Mrs. McAnything indulge in a family
broil, in which rolling pins and
skillets play a prominent part, the his
tory Of the event is preserved only on
the records OF police court and is not
handed down to future generations OH
the pages OF the biographies OF the par
ties. for the reason that their biogra-
phies are never written. 1t is only ''the
masses" who can enjoy their connubial
infelicties in comparative privacy so tar
as relates to the world at large. 1t is
the conspicuousnoss OF genius or wealth
that makes the domestic affairs of people
who are burdcned with either, matters
not strictly their own. When
Patti delights world with the
sweetness and the power and the general
hcsyenliness of her voice, she is no
longer strictly private person. She
belongs to the public and when she
quarrels with her husband, the whole
world takes an atfectonate solicitudc in
the outcome of the domestic discord.
And so on. through the whole world of
celebrities. Ii Socrates had not been
Socrates, his wrangles with Xantippe
would not have been remembered
through hundreds and hundreds ofyears.
lfCasar had been less than Caesar itwould
long since have been forgotten that it
was necessary tor his domestic peace
that his wife should be above suspicion.
Though Shakespeare and his Anne
Hathaway did not, as daily occurrence,
dine on stalled OK, their meal OF herbs
was not often spiced with love, hut who,
two centuries after they lived and quar-
relied, would have borne it
in memory if he. the lord OF
much disturbed household,
had been penny-'i-iiner whose reputa-
ton was only contemporaneous with his
breath: Likewise, with Byron's genius,
wiillive as long as it lives the record of his
unhappy union with Miss Milbank.
On the contrary, though we have
Theodore Parker's assertion that per.
feet marriage is so rare that he imagined
the sun In TIE heaYens would stop IN hi
course to view the sight, the
pages Of past aud contempora.
neous history contain the record
Of many very happy, il not
quite perfect. marriages OF men and wo-
men, who have made, or are helping to
make tue history OF the world. One
OF the most touching pages of Macauley' S
England, is that on which is described
the grief of William OF Orange on the
death OF Mary, his queen, to whom he
was most tenderly and deyotedly attached.
Between Louis the Sixteenth and Marie
Antoinette, the most beautiful and UNI
fortunate Of the queens of France, there
existed an affection that was heightened
by misfortune and grew beautiful In its
strength as they walked together down
into the valley and the shadow of their
tragic deaths. Klopstock, the cele.
brated German poet OF the Eighteenth
century, waited with patience that wa.
almost divine, for the woman he loved,
and "after long years." when success
attended his wOoing, he was re.
warded with wifely love that was
Faithful and patient and tender and true"
The attachment between Washington
and his wife was very strong his love
for her was equalled by her pride in him.
Jefferson lost his wife when he was vet
ayOung man; he mourned her with an
intensity of grief and though he lived
TIL he was past four score years, he
faithfully kept promise made to
her On her death.bed never
10 fill her place in his af.
lection by second marriage
The pages of history are dotted all
over with instances like these; and
In our own day, they are numerous and
striking. The poet Tennyson is as
happy In his married lite as he could
have been had he never been made IA,
nous BY SIN Memoriam" or "Idyls O
the King" Disrael's union with wo
man many years his senior wa
the beginning OF domesti,
felicity broken only by her death
Ofenbach, the German composer, de
dicated late book on America TO hi
wife and published to the world on it
pages his admiration as well as hi
love for the woman who shares his nam
and his home.
But We should transcend the limits O