St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-02-25
MIND AND MARRIAGE.
Tennyson's Doctrine IppFied To Notorious
UnhnDpy Unions.


Unhappy Unions.
From the London Hour.
1t has often been said, as a sort of warming
to expectant young ladies, that men of genius
and men deeply engaged in literary pursuits
make poor husbands They do not, it is
claimed, take to domesticity; and they are
so absorbed in thoughts that abstract them
from the everyday concerns of prosaic life
that they are apt to forget the butcher and
the baker, and have no time or taste for in
dulging in those dainty reminders and repcti-
tons OF courtship which all young wives ex-
pect, and all experienced wives would be
glad to expect. If we should summarize the
whole argument-they are, briefly, out of
their sphere. To have important brains, or
to have brains highly developed, destroys, it
Is urged the aptitude for ordinary routine
and humdrum ways. The possessors Of such
fine mental instruments will not fit easily
into the common environment. They chafe,
and are FESTIVE Was not Byron a poor
enough husbandl And If he is called an cX-
ception, Milton certainly was not. Yet moral
and pious as he was, his marital fitness was
Look, too, at Burns and Dickens and Poe.
In recent times this homly, which we so fire.
ouently encounter, suspends Itself upon the
fresh "reminiscences OF Carlyle, and the still
fresher ones Of Bulwer, more formidable still.
In the instance Of Carlyle, we think the
matter has been dinned into our minds from
80 many directions, and by so many pens
eager to sec the man who had put so many
things in the plllory Of indignation put there
| himself. that it has been lifted somewhat out
| OF the true perspective We have no doubt
/ that Carlyle personally, was not a remark
| ably agreeable companion for summer and
| winter. and for lifetime. He meant TO be
| kind He supposed he was as kind as the
! ogres Of dyspepsia and the dsmaness Of
! hard work and barren social life would let
! him be. II was no; malice aforethought that
! he can be accused Of, and there IS some in
! ternal evidence which goes To show that Mrs.
CARLYLE. IL she had been happy with more
amicable man, might have been so only at
! the expense Of more amicable mans own
| felicity.
From the social point Of view It Is only dis
aster and scandal that We are apt TO consider.
/ Tennvson and Browning, and LongieHo"
/ and Lowell, and dozens Of men may be su-
/ prcmely happy, or mas have been SON the
] domestic sphere-but dozen such examples
| DO not count, IN the puDl.c's estimate oi
| things, enough to Offset the one opposite IN
stance which happens at the moment " be
uppermost Happiness FOR some reason we
| take 20 be a commonplace, a matter OF
! course The Oriental theory in relation ".
woman. which Il has taken centuries TO or
grow-and which It has only outIro%n -
/ Western, and In the most euIightened western
,nations-stlll leaves its traces here ana there.
/ II f. her reliance, and not ber Independence,
that most men still desire for her, and that
makes her interesting 70 them. Anything
which uaguiaes her personality and power
a,srt from them does rot add u her charm +.
II. in fact. sensibly dminishes It.
There are some, we imagine, who viii Think
nat Tepnyson has. after all, IN that memoir
af,lp massage from .'Loeksley hall" touched
/ suggestiycly for all time the true relation Of
mind 10 marriage. Speaking ia the charac-
Ter 81 the Tilted lover, he addresses ''shallow-
beartel-' girl with bis epiihsts, but the rule
intirrated and the PHILOSOPHY Of il work both
wavs. Il is bis doctrine that common place
ness and coarseness drag down and leave
their mark.