The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1884-03-19
A PLEASANT PICTURE.
THE LOVER AND THE HUSBAND As
Tx. MARVEL FOUND HIM.
A Graphic Description OF n Mans Life Be-
fore md Amer Marriage.


A Graphic Description OF n Mans Life BE.
fore md Amer Marriage.
|
You grow unusually amiable and kind
you are earnest in your search Of friends
you shake hands with your oillce.boy us
If he were your second cousin. You joke
cheerfully with the stout washerwoman
and give her shilling oyerchange and
insist upon her keeping it, and grow
quite merry at the recollection of it,.
You tap your hickman on the shoulder
very iamiliarly and tell him he is a
capital fellow, and don't allow him to
whip his horses, except when driving to
the post-o0lce you ask after the health
Of his wife. He says he has no wife
whercupon you think him very miser-
able man and give him n dollar, by way
Of consolation.
You think all the editorials in the
morning papers are remarkably well
written, whether upon your side or upon
another. You think the stock market
has very cheerful look, with Erie-oi
which you are large holder-down TO
seyenty-fve. You wonder why you
never admired Mrs. Hemans before, or
Stoddart, or any Of the rest.
You give a pleasant twirl to your
fingers as you saunter along the street,
and say-but not 50 loud as to be over
heard: "She il mine Dhe is mine !"
You wonder il Frank ever loved Nelly
one-half as well as you love Madge. You
feel quite sure he never did. You can
hardly conceive how il il that Madge
has not been seized before now by scores
of enamored men and borne off, like the
Sabine women in Roman history. You
chuckle over yOur future like boy who
has found guinea in cropping for six.
pcnces. You read over the marriage
service, thinking Of the time when you
will take her hand and slip the ring
upon her finger and repeat after the
clergyman "For richer, for poorer, for
better, for worse pa great deal Of
worse" there will DO about it, you
think
Through all your heart cleaves TO that
sweet image Of the beloved Madge ~
light cleayes to day. The weeks leap
with bound and the months only grow
long when you approach that day which
is to make her yours. There are no
flowers rare enough to make bouquets
Tor her; diamonds are too dim for her
TO wear; pearls are tame.
- And after marriage-the weeks
are even shorter than before. You won
der why on earth all the single men in
the world do not rush tumutuously to
the altar. You look upon them all as q
Travelled man will look upon some con-
ceited Dutch boor who has never been
beyond the limits Of his cabbage-gar-
den. Married men, on the contrary, you
regard M fellow-voyagers, and look upon
their wivcs-ugly as they may be-as
better than none
You blush little at first, telling your
butcher what "your wife" would like:
you bargain with the grocer for sugars
and teas and wonder if he knows you are
II married man. You practice your new
way OF talk upon your oilice.boy; You
tell him that "your wife" expects you
home to dinner-and are astonished that
he does not stare to hear you say it.
You wonder if the people in the omni-
bus know that Madge and you are Just
and if the driver knows that
the shilling You hand to him is for "self
and wife," You wonder If anybody was
ever 80 happy before or ever will DO 80
happy again.
You enter your name upon the hotel
books as "Clarence -- and lady" and
come back to look ut it, wondering if
else has noticed it, and think
ing that it looks remarkably well. You
cannot help thinking that every third
man you meet in the hall wishes he DOS.
'essed your wife, nor do you think it
very sinful in him to wish it. You fear
It IL placing temptation in the way of /
,ovetous men to put Madge's little .
cutters outside the chamber-door at
hight.
Your home, when it is entered, is Just
What it should be--quiet, small, with
'veryihlng she wishes, and nothing
more than she wishes. The sun strikes
t in the happiest possible way; the
piano IL the sweetest-to toned in the world;
he library is stocked to a charm, and
blessed wife il there.
'dorning and giving life to it all. To
mink, even, of her possible death is
ulIering You class with the Internal tor.
nrcs of the lnquisition. You grow
vain of heart and purpose. Smiles
eem made for marriage, and you won.
er how You ever wore them before.