The Osceola times., 1883-01-20
TYPICAL AMERICAN IIEROiNEs.
,.n.p,v Marriages as Depicted In Cur
rent Novels.
London Saturday Review.

attracted unusual interest because he /
has chosen to write of people whom |
every American claims as old acquaih'-
ances. We each know somewhere
Marcia in rags or velvet, and BartleY |
Hubbard turns up in a newspaper doc
tors or lawyers Offices in san Francisco
and Denver as well as in Maine. lhe
story is A modern instance Of the bllnd
worship which the Titanias OF to-day
lavish on the Bottoms, and it Is an az
grayated and pitiable case. But that sort
of mental paralysis with which Marcia Is
afflicted is more common than even MI
Howells, perhaps, would have MS think
1t not only makes sensitive, clear-brained
women every day set up some gross,
labbv-minded animal as a god and grovel
their lives long before him, to the dis
gust of other men who know the creature
as he is. but it forces men like Keats to
wreck their souls before some pert,
worldly little Miss Brown.
Look in Many households and you
will find men-keen-witted and OF pure
taste in all other matters-not merely
"making the best" Of the fatal mistake
they made in marriage, but believing
with all their souls that in their coarse
grained frivolous, selfish wives, adorning
them. gratefully accepting pretty trek
now and then, in place OF the noble,
womanly heart, the sclf-sacrihce, the de-
votion which never were and never VIII
betheirs. This peculiar sort of blindness
too. does not belong alone TO love or
married life. In every family 1t is the
law, selfish, cynical member who calls
il forth. He is most tenderly cared Tor;
his rare words Of affection are relneln-
bcred and cherished; young women
make a hero of him wherever he goes
at home the calf is kept ready to XII,
and the gold chain Furnished IN nope
that this unrepenting prodigal may take
it into his head to come back, Whlle the
plodding, unsclfsh elder brother is set
down for common place fellow, and
gets scant thanks for spending his lie
for others.
There is no need Of being provoked at
this blindness of love. 1t has It's use llke
every other whim or abnormal freak IN
nature. Suppose for moment, that no
such cataract could form over the mind
and that wife, mother, and friends saw
the vulgar. selfish, unstable wretch with
clear. merciless eyes, as do the rest of the
world? What earthly chance would
there be for him aftcrward? The only
chance for any such man is in trying TO
live IN to the height where somebody
has placed him. If these gross, selfish
souls that have gone into the world be-
yond are to make any progress there,
one would almost be persuaded that
there too they will find some fond fool
to believe in them; and that there is Il
merciful degree of short-sightedness
among even the angels.
The main object, however, Of the book
i'm question, and of two or three others
now running through American maga-
zines. il to set forth the miserics of an
unhappy marriage, and to suggest either
the righteousness or crime of its remedy
bv divorce. An English-man TO read
American novels OF the last year would
imagine all American wives bound by
the chains of an unfortunate marriage,
each, as rule, struggling madly to cs-
cape to the outstretChCd arms of some
responsible being awaiting outside. What
do these hints mean? Are American
homes less sacred to virtue and pare love
than those,.of England? What change
has taken place in their women that
makes them in the first place so dull in
perception to choose the right man for a
husband and then too lax Of principal
to keep from running abroad to look for
more congenial mate ever after? If
there be any such impending revolution
in their domestic relations as these pro-
phecies indicate, there is no visible sign
oft now to the ordinary observer. Wives
to-day Jog on their accustomed round
between nursery aid church, household
and social cares, as faithfully as did
, their granduothers. and so far rs We can
see are rs little troubled as they with a
conscience Of antipathy to their hus-
bands or wild longings for the right
man elsewhere" There seems to be,
from the cottage to the palace, the old
sweet drama going ON of innocent love
. between young happy girls and boys,
some day to end in a pure marriage We
N'iiih ltllll ll'l' AiisAA wv li''i''b - il'N
so dark as represented, and that the
question of divorce, its crime or propri-
ETY., is Of no more importance there than
in any other Christian country.
If, however, the majority Of American
wives are in such case AMI find relief
from the marriage bond, if distastoful, a
necessity, We do not see how they can
be required to discharge the other duty
which devolycs upon that Of the care of
their children. If one obligation can be
thrown aside as soon as il becomes heavy
and repugnant to the taste and scnsibili-
ties, why not all? Why should the moth
er lose her beauty and health in the care
of child, or the father sacrifice hi, am
bition, youth and pleasure to "make a
man of the boy" when very likely the
boy may turn out q mcaner man than
himself? Why should the engineer not
desert his post as soon as he grows tired
or the soldier leave his ranks when the
battle is near? Why, in short, should we
not write down all duty, sham and honor
an old fashioned prejudice?
l Domestic Receipes,
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