Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-01-29
regard for the Christian religion or abe 10

regard for the Christian religion or she 10 Q
bad woman and unworthy of being your
companion in a life charged with such
s%tupendous solemnity and vic,ssitudes.
What you want, O man! in q wife, is not
a butterfly of the sunshine, not agiggling
%nonentity, not a painted doll, not a gossip.
ing gad-about, not n mixture of artificiali.
tits which leave you in doubt as to where
the humbug ends and the nm begins,
but an earnest saul, one that can not only
laugh when you laugh, but weep when you
weep. There will be wide, deep graves in
your path of life, and you will both want
steadying when yon come to the verge Of
them, tell you! When your fortune fails
you will want some one to talk of the treas
ures in heaven and not charge upon you
with a bitter 81 told y on So" AS far as I
can analyze it sincerity and earnestness are
the foundation of all worthy wifehood. Get
that and you get all. Fail to get that and
you get nothing but what you will wish you
never had got.
Don't make the mistake that man of the
text made in letting his eye settle the ques-
ton in which coolest judgment directed by
divine wisdom are all important. He who
has no reason for his wifely choice except
a pretty face is like q man who should buy |
a farm because of the dahlias in the front
door-yard. Beauty is q talent, and when
God gives 1.-THE intends it ass benediction
upon a woman's face. When the good Prin.
cess of Wales dismounted from
the rail train last ummer, and
l saw her radiant face, l could
understand what they told me the day be-
fore, that when at the great military hos.
pital where are now the wounded and the
sick from the Egyptian and other wars the
Princess passed through, all the sick were
cheered at her coming, and those who
could be reused neither by doctor nor
nurse from their stupor, would get up on
their elbows to look at her, and wan aud
wasted lips prayed an audible prayer:
"God bless the Princess of Wales! Doesn't
she look beautiful?"
But how uncertain is the tarrying of
beauty in a human c~ountenance. Exnlo-
sion of a kerosene lamp turns it into scar.
i~ication, and a scoundrel with the dash of
vitriol may dispel it, or time will drive his
chariot wheels across that bright face, c,.t-
ting it up in deep ruts and gullies. E1t
there is an eternal beauty on tho face of
some women whom q rough and ungallant
world may c~riticise as homely, and though
their features may contradict all the la ~s
of Lavater on p~hysiognomy, yet they hive
graces of soul that will keep them attract
i've for time and glorious through oil etern.
ity. =.
There are two or three circumstances in
which the plainest wife is a queen of beauty
to her husband, whatever her stature or
profile. By financial panic or be-
trayel of business partner, the man
goes down, and returning to his
home that evening he says: II
am ruined; I am in disgrace forever; I
care not whether I live or die" 1t is an
agitated story he is telling in the house,
hold hat winter night. He says: "The
furniture must go, the house must go, the
social position must CO." and from being
sought for obsequiously they must be cold
shouldered everywhere. After he ceases
talking, and the wife has heard all in 81.
lence, she says: SIS that all? Why, you
had nothing when l married you, and you
lave only come back to where you started.
If you think that my happiness and that
Of the children depend on these trappings,
you do not know me, though we have lived
together thirty years. God is not dead,
and the National Bank of Heaven has not
suspended payment, and if you don't mind
I don't care a cent. What little we need
of food and raiment the rest of cur lives
we can get, and l don't propose to sit down
and NOPE and groan. Mary, hand methat
darning-needle. And, John, light one OF
the other gas-burners. And, Jimmy, open
the register for a little more heat. Fanny,
fetch your fathers slippers. I declare! ]
have forgot to set the rising for those
cakesw And while she is busy at it he
hears her humming Newton's old hymn,
"To.morrow."
1t can bring with it nothing,
But lie will bear us through;
Who gives the lilies clothing
VIII clothe his people too;
Beneath the spreading heavens
No creature but Is fed;
And He who feeds the ravens
Will give his children bread.
Though vine nor fig tree either
Their wonted fruit should bear,
Though all the fields should wither.
Nor fiocks nor herds be there;
Yet God the same hiding,
His praise shall tune my voice; -.
For while in Him contiding
lean not but rejoice.
The husband looks up in amazenent and
says: "Well well, you are the greatest
woman I ever saw. I thought you would
faint dead away when I told you." And
as he looks at her, all the glories of physi.
ognomy in the court of Louis XIV, or the
modern fashion plates are tame as com.
pared with the ~supcrhuman %splendors OF