The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1878-01-18
Widows.

One has thought of vcnturing TO rcmon-
strate with ones friend in his lifetime
on the rumors misunderstanding be-
tween himself and his wife. The wife
has appeared all that is charming, and
the rumors, therefore, have been all that
is unintelligible. But when the hus.
band has departed and the widow re-
mains, the incomprehensible becomes
the comprehensive. The sclfasserting
mien, the tricks of uncharitable insinu-
alton and malignant misunderstanding
which were impcrceptible to the friend
of the family in the wife, are only too
apparent in the widow. One under
stands il all now, and when the forlorn
relict speaks of her departed husband as
a saint and martyr, one is disposed to
| think that the latter, at least, lie must
| assurcdly have been. There are a few
broad and casily-recognizablc types of
the class of widows. The womanly
widow is an cxaggeration of all that is
sweet and tender and helpless in wo-
manhood; the masculine of all that is
ssclf-suflicicnt and aggressive in man.
mood: The womanly widow is not un-
IKE the ordinary govcrness, who, when
addressed in conversation, invariably
appears Cor moment rs if she was
ABOUT 10 burst into tears. But tho gath
ering dewdrops vanish before the sun
shine of the pleasing, trustful smile;
the natty little cap sits TO perfection on
the brown, wavy hair; and, in the
course of twenty minutes, you are in
possession of all that concerns the past
or future of your fair interlocutrix. She
has obtained your views on every vari-
ETY. of subject, from that of the stock in
which you wOnld advise her to invest
some of her small fortune to that of an
economical German country town, in
which for time, she may conceal her.
self; or of good private school to
which she can send her eldest boy. You
feel that throughout this little consulta-
ton, the body is tiguratively leaning on
your shoulder; she talks about her
hcart-strings being wrung, and she at
once conveys TO You the impression that
she is a moral ivy plant She does not
know what ii is to be alone, or to make
eXertions on her own account. She is
a piece of signing, smiling, plump, pic
turesque helplcssness i'll black Grape and
white lawn, with the prettiest little
hands and the neatest most daintily-shod
little feet in the world, her tiny en-
odors waited from Paradise, and sug-
gesting altogether study of the luxury
of woes on a reduced scale. But be-
cause she is helpless, she is not neces-
sarily artless; and grateful as she is for
your advice, it would not be surprising
If she were to read the money-artclc
carefully, or to speak seriously OF her
brother, before she makes the particu.
lar investment which you have advised.
OF the masculine widow it may gen.
orally be said that it is her mission to
present bereavement in its least attrac-
tive form, grief in a form so grim that
it repels the sympathy which was in
store for it, and narrOwness of worldly
circumstances in the shape which is of
all others austcre and unpoetical. Clad
in the garb of woe, despising any of the
prettincss of costume which are permit
ted to the deepest grief, she enters your
house, veritablc lshmael in black pet
ticoats. She has now to make her own
way in tho world, no ono to truot to c..
cept herself, and she intends to leave no
chance unturned. If you had expected
to see signing, grief-oppresscd, sup
plicating creature, you are mistaken.
This is no weak widow who insists on
seeing you whenever she has question
10 ask or suit to make; 1t is rather
sort of female highwayman, who march
es into your private sauctum, and calls
upon you to stand and deliver, or who
so establishes herself in your household
that she gradually begins to acquire Il
vested interest in its rights, and voice
which will not be silenccd in its man.
agcment. There is no insolencc-and
indeed there is sometimes no cxtrava-
gahce-iike that of poverty, and wien
the combination OF strong-mindcd wild
oW noou anu lhlpecnnioslty Is met with,
one has not, TO say the least of ii, n soil
cohgenlal to the growth of sensitive