St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1883-07-07
"SWEETHEARTS AND WIVES.

Potomac Dinner:
This IS an excellent and vener
able toast. i have no doubt i
could be found deposited under tn,
foundation of one OF the oldest ex
listing monuments in the world
that to Washington over vonder
1t is cid, but it will he new and
fresh long after the Washington
monument is finished. It is one OF
the most ingenious sentiments ever
devised by evasive man. Its origin
is lost in the mists Of antiquity, but
it was no doubt conceived before
latchkeys were Invented. "Sweet-
hearts and wives" Is that "and''
conjunctiye or a disjunction? 1t is
both. 1t suits the conviyial hour of
the banquet, aud will pass muster,
under domestic inspection, at any
hour in the morning. 1t may mean,
tor the worldly moment, that there
are sweethearts and there are also
wives; and it may mean, when it
must, in the hour when account has
to be given of the deeds done here
IN the banquet, that sweethearts
and wives are the same. 1t is and
is usually kept like good wine, till
the last. 1t is thrown in as pro-
pitiatory Offering, like the senti-
ment to the press. Neither of them
is dictated by fear, but by that af-
fectionate and wholesome respect
for discipline which keeps man on
the right track in this world. RI
have sometimes wondered that on
pubic occasions, woman, who is al
together the most important item
in life, the cause of most of the wars
and nearly all the reformatiors the
and the reward of all Ia
Dor, should be put under .the con-
the so-called "navv."
Mexico. and "the day we ceIe-
orate." In rightly ordered world |
the toast To woman should come
1ext to that of the President of the
United Seutes.
ltis not necessary, in the pres
,nce of the Army of the Potomac
hat | should appear as a eulosist
II woman. She is indeed begin
ling to speak for herself, and i am
the day when she will
peak for us; when she will do man
ome slight justice for the little part
q has played IN history. She
nows all about it; she reads him
Ike the alphabet. She knows lust
'hen he has been false and when
e has been true, when his bravery l
as genuine and when it was from $
.ar of being called a coward, and d
hen he has been a pretenGer, t
hen he has been a bypocrite, when
. has been SO loyal that she could
orship him without hutter of {
'servation, or love him without a n
ush; she has studded him and
ept all these things in her heart. >.
le has shed tears enough over him G
wash away all his sins-to float Il
m into heaven, if he could get
ere by water. She has fattered {
N till his head touched the stars.
ie has strengthened him and sent
IN out into the world with n ashield L
TIL the injunction not to return
thout it, unless he was borne
ION it. She is always willing to
Id out a light for him to swim 81
ross the river to her, and her &C
llle Is always worth the swim. 10 70
q is always willing TO pray him 80
t OF any mischief she has enticed pa
n into. She will make a man OF d.
n if anything III the world can. ~ ~
Il cDnstancy Is pro.erb; she is
> one thing, and never twice the in
ne, that never changes; the one OF
lect that man can confidently tie nr
She is our national motto per- So
,ifed-infnite variety in unity. by
nat she was yesterday she Will ST. ST.
be tomorrow, and she was not ", u,
day before; she is eyerlustingiy in
same. pu
What she was to the Army of the u: II:
tomac l need not say. Whether AN aa
remained at home to sew for tw.
, and pray for him, or followed lin
aheld with Int and bandayes, dre
went in hospitals in the garb OF lin, 1i,n
.iht and with the smile of an Lal
ei to "kiss him for his mother" ac9
" her patriotism and genius for iro, Il! >
shone ont in that great for, s,
y he created, second only in the
'prtance to tha. in the field, day
ea Gated for the wounded and J,
!, NIen ypn oro @t,.lano,, -: s.