, 1884-02-03

HOW MUCH OF II MI. SKINNER ever Knew II
Is impossible to say, but there was an imme
dinte and satisfactory change that at frst
amazed and then delighted him. He could
lie down anywhere when he was
tired and his wife would throw a
shawl over him, and leave him
in peace. He has even been seen to lie down
on the sofa In the parlor where he took his
RipsVan Winkle sleep, and nobody disturbed
him. Mrs. Skinner was at heart a woman Of
sense. and when she realized that one hair of
that grizzly-gruy head was worth more than
all the pillow-shnms in the world to her, she
put the last one away in the company OF a
demented assortment OF superfuous tides
And they are really and truly, and not in any
geological sense. a @happy family" now.
Gail Hamilton aud the CarIyIes.
tClara Hern Bsyliss.
There Is no more dangerous ~frequenter
OF a selfish mans house than u clear-eyed, un-
married woman" said Gail Hamilton In The
North American Review for January.
We protest that no unmarried woman Is
q competent judge between man and wife
She may be clear-eyed, but her glance Is
quick, alert, restless-not comprehensive.
She notes every little chip or straw of i'm
patience, and thinks "Straws show which
way the wind blows" unmindful of,
because ignorant of, the strong
current DtlOW WHICH uO"s On uuuls-
turbed even though dyspepsia grumble at the
pudding. She views everything from the un-
married standpoint, and trifes are to her
what they would have been to the parties
concerned when they were neutrality-suspicious.
and had not attained the deep abiding faith
which comes of long loving.
Says Gail: 1.-THE unmarried woman Is
dangerous because she has no Blue Boards
skeleton in her own closet to make her hide
his from sheer sympathy" Here again she
utters more truth than she wishes. She has
not the sympathy, that clearest Of all visions,
the sympathy of experience, which would
show the Blue Boards skeleton to be a mere
Observation-Disclosures ghost, easily laid
or course Carlyle was often selfish and
even suriy. Genius ~ wondrous apt in that
line JEANNE Welsh had genius too; loss
surly truly, but not less keen and caustic.
II ever man could blast another utterly
with a single word, it was Carlyle, and prob
ably he sometimes said scattering things to
"his weak little darling" as she could and did
to -her beloved Good" as she called him; but
that he was a IN unloving, brutal husband
is abundantly disproved by the very letters
from which Miss Dodge draws her conclu-
sions.
We need read nothing which Carlyle him
self writes. Her letters tell Of bis constant
messages to her when away, OF his tender
anxiety after the death OF Mrs Welsh that
sho should miss no little attention to which
she was accustomed from her mother, OF her
own pride and gratitude that her husband
had won such a place in tho hearts of men;
and, in writing to him, she pours out her
most e~xtravagant ~iancies, her widest en-
thusiasms, and her most girlish exploits with
a freedom and confidence which show that
she feared no such cold humiliation as Gail
would have us expect.
What II he did growl savagelyl Some Of
US prefer strong mastiirs to poodle dogs, or
even to the sleek spaniels which Miss Dodge's
| correct taste tells her are better suited In
d~rawing-rooms. Some women admire strength
and roughnass more than mediocrity and
g~entleness. They stand up bravely and
loyalty against blasts that would shock and
shatter feebler natures, and there is nothing
OF the Observation-Disclosures, reels
under-the-brutal-blow, and woman-like-loves-
on nonsense about 1t either, but simply this:
that saints in broadcloth aud starched linen,
not being yet invented, they prefer that par
ticular kind OF unsaintliness as better suited
TO their own -unsaintliness.
They say, as the wise old lady said: THE
first timo Caleb did something that l knew
was wrong, / was real glad OF 1t. l had been
afraid he was so perfect he couldn't love such
q faulty creature as / was"
The keen intellect, the critical yet emo
tional nature of Mra- Carlyle must have a
Carlyle to cope with. And II she sometimes
complained OF him, a woman more subject
than Miss Dodge TO the morbid sensitiveness
of nervous ailments like hers would say In
reading the letters:
Here, and here she was Ill,
Here she was herself again
They had their trials. as what couple has
not, with the world and with each other. But
L.. NO. tI~o,,rI 1885, .-l -..f@.,-A
through Joy and grief. they loved each other
dsvoutly and sincerely.