West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-05-11
MARRIAGE.
ITO be continued.)
tod Cor tho nEAI0CRAT.

10 OE COHttH~cu.I
Selected for the DEMOCRAT.
"There is vision in the heart of each
Ofjustice, mercy, wisdom, tenderness
To wrong and pain, and knowledge of
its cure
And these embodied in woman's
form.
Robert Browning.
1t is not enough to love, nor even
to understand each other. You
must give back something in return
for what is given, sparkle orspark-
lie, thought for thought. On this
account, so far as nationality goes,
/ should prefer the French woman
to all others in the world.
The German woman is all love
and gentleness, full of child-like pu
rity, which transport one to Para
disc. The English woman, chaste,
exclusive, thoughtful, and absorbed
in her home affections, so loyal, so
firm, and so gentle, is the ideal Of a
wife. The passion of the Spaniard
bites deep into the heart; and the
Italian, in her beauty and softness,
her warm imagination often with
her touching frankness, renders re-
sistance impossible, and you are en-
raptured, conquered.
However,ifyou desire wife whose
soul shall respond to your own by
the sympathy of intellect as well as
love-who shall renew your heart
by charming yivacity and gayety,
a helping wit, womanly words or
birdlike song-you must choose a
Frenchwoman.
Generally speaking, the young
French girl has neither the dazzling
complexion, nor the visible purity,
the touching and virginia. charm, of
the German girl. The French wom
an is wonderfully beautified by mar
rage, while Northern virgin loses
by it, and often fades. You risk
very little in marrying plain wom-
an in France. Sheis most frequent
ly so simply for want of love.
When she is loved, she becomes quite
another person; you would scarcely
recognize her.
Woman takes hardly any interest
in the vain discussions which are
carried on in her name at the pres
ent day. She troubles herself very
little about the famous inconsistent
debate, whether she is superior or
inferior to man. The theory of the
case is, with her, quite secondary
consideration. Wherever she proves
herself thoughtful, clever, and pru-
dent. there she is mistress; she
manages the household, directs the
business. keeps the money, arranges
everything.
Will she obey? At this question
you fancy she will resist. Not at
all; she merely laughs and shakes
her head. She knows perfectly, in
her own heart, that the better she
obeys the surer she is to govern.
What is it after all, that woman
desires most profoundly? What is
her secret wish-the indistinct in
stinctive thought that follows her,
without her being able to account
for it, into all places and at all
times-the thought which fully ex-
plains her apparent contradictions,
her prudence and her folly, her fidel-
ity and her Inconsistency !
She wishes to be loved, without
doubt; but that answer does not by
any means fathom the uttermost
depths of her desires.
Then she desires most to reign at
home, to be mistress of the house,
mistress by her fireside, at her ta-
BILE, in all her little world. This"
says the ancient Persian, sis what
pleases woman above every other
thing" That, to be sure, is true,
but it may be explained by a deep
er sentiment, to which the proceed
ing considerations are in great
measure related.
The secret, essential, capital, and
fundamental idea is, that every
woman feels herself to be power
full centre of love and attraction,
around which everything should re.
volve. She wants man to envelop
her with an Unsuitable desire-a
never ending curiosity. She has a
confused consciousness that her ma
ture affords an infnity ofdiscovery;
that she possesses the power Of fully
satisfying the persevering lovewhich
would pursue this endless search
that she would surprise it forever by
q thousand visions Of grace and
passion.
Woman, in all history, is the NOR
tai enemy of polyagmy. She wishes
for the love of one only; but it must
be real love-an eager, restless pas
sion, which, like fame, burns on
and must burn on.
Hence come the deplorable at
tempts of a creature naturally very
faithful, and who would have always
remained so. to find elsewhere