West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-05-04
self; for one tailor who understands,
copies, and improves upon nature, !
would give three classic sculptcrs.

WOulQ give turcc CidSotC oSuiPooS'
Think of all this, dear friend
whether you are student at col
lege, or young workman elsewhere,
matters not). Begin now, in your
DAYS of rest, to reflect to prepare
and mark out your future life.
Make the most of this time; and, II
by chance this book fall into your
hands, read a few pages and think.
The book has, among other faults,
that of being extremely brief.
When the one who writes this, down
deep under the sod shall rest from
his labors, one more able than be
will take from his imperfect sketch
a chapter, and make Of it, perhaps,
a great, exhaustive, and immortal
book. But you can already. even
on these dry data, compose tor your
self in advance the book of life. q
Think of it on Sunday evenings,
when the noisy troupe of your
thoughtless comrades hammer at
your door and say: "Hallo what
are you doing? Are you bear !
Come! we are waiting for you. We
are going to la Chartreuse to la
Chaumiere, to the Lilas. We are
going to take Amanda, Louise, and
Jannette with u.s."
Answer them thus: II have
something to do now. BY and-hy."
If you say that, l assure you that
between the two sickly flowers
which you are training on your
window-sill, languishing in the
smoke of Paris, third will appear,
flower, and yet woman-the
slight and misty image of your fu-
ture bride.
She is rather young yet. She is
perhaps but thirteen years old; you
are twenty. She must have time 10
grow. Still. young as she is, if you
devote much of your thought to her,
she will guard you better than eth
er your father or your mother. For
the little one is very strict; she
does not countenance follies of any
sort. If any come into your head,
she will manage to say without
speaking to you: "No my love, do
not on. stay and work for me-"
1 give you this charming vision
for a guardian and for Mentor,
for preceptor and governor.
When she is eighteen or twenty
years old, the relations between you
will change. AS a wife, she will
come into your house, and think it
very proper and very pleasant for
YOU to become master in turn.
You will then thank God, whose
inventive kindness has made woman
for you-woman, the miracle of di-
vine contradiction.
OF themselves they are very kind,
gentle and considerate to him upon
whom they depend for support.
Their sharpness, and little fits of
anger, are nearly always the results
of suffering. That man is great
fool who takes any notice of these.
He should rather, at such times,
care for her, attend to her, and sym
pathize with her the more.
Woman, so often interrupted by
sickness, is very bad worker. To
keep her seated in her chair all day
would be in the highest degree cruel.
She is not at all adapted for work,
when in full health.
All that the economists and peo-
pie of that sort have said about wo-
mans fitness for labor, applies to
but one exceptional country, imper-
ceptible on the map of the world,
forming but little black spot on
that of Europe. They have left the
rest of the world out Of cons.dera-
tion!
Woman are no more idle than we
are, though she acts in a very differ
ent manner. / know some who work
twelve hours a day, and yet do
not know that they are working.
One of the most industrious of these
once said to me modestly: 81 live
like a princess. He does the work
and supports me. Women are good
for nothing"
This nothing means light,
slow, interrupted and voluntary
work, always having in view those
whom she loves. This work, which
does not absorb her mind, is like the
woof to the web of her thoughts.
She weaves upon it the household
matters which the man, engaged in
his business, had not thought about,
and sometimes a higher and more
universal poetry Of humanity and
charity.
1t is the paradise of marriage
that the man shall work for the wo-
man; that he alone shall support
her, take pleasure in enduring fa-
tigue for her sake, and spare her the
hardships of labor, and rude contact
with the world.
He returns home in the evening,
harassed, suffering from toll, mental
or bodily. from the WEAKNESS OF
worldly things, from the baseness of
men. But in his reception at home
there is such an infinite kindness, a
calm so intense, that he hardly be-
lieves in the cruel realities he has
gone through all the day. NO." he
says, 'sthat could not have been; it
was but an ugly dream. There is