St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-03-09

How strange IL must have been for a
man to get acquainted with his wife
after he was married instead of before!
We are SO accustomed ourselves to
freedom of association between young
men and maideas that We can hardly
realize how rare such freedom is in
the world. The English-speaking ma
tiOns alone enjoy it. and it is only In
portions OF the United States that there
are no restraints upon it, except such
as are imposed by natural prOpriety
and mutual respect 1t is here. and
only here, that youths and maidens
play together. 60 to school together.
take walks together, and share on equal
and rational terms all the social pleas
ures proper to their age. y 4
We can not pretend that this free-
dom is not sometimes abused. as free
dom is apt TO be in other things, such
as politics. for example. All good
things are abused. even the best
Speaking generally. however. this free
dom from artificial restraints seems to
ly be justified by its results.
The most civilized of the ancient
races. the Greeks, in the greatest age
of Greece, knew nothing like this free
sexes. One of the most interesting
passages in the noble literature of
Greece is the one in XenophOn, which
represents Socrates calling upon Is
ehomachus. a noted wise man and good
manager. in order to learn from his
swn lips the secret OF his domestic
happiness and prosperity.
IL wish to learn" said Socrates,
''what it is that you do to gain the
character from all people of q good
ard honest man; the excellent color Of
your face seems to show that you do
not always stay at home"
C"You..ar right" replied Ischomach-
US, ''in what you say Of my not being
much at home. for my. wife is capable
of ordering such things as belongs to
the house"
Socrates then wished to know how
his wife acquired this knowledge,
whether from himself or from her
parents. -.-@
My wife he answered. .'was but
fifteen years old when l married her.
and till then she had been 80 negligent
ly brought up that she hardly knew
any thing Of worldly affairs"
''And did you teach her, asked Soc
rates, 1.-The things that relate to the
Of house?'
Il did" was the reply; ''but not be-
fore had implOred the assistance Of
the gods to show me what instruc-
ticns were necessary for her. and that
she might have q heart to learn and |
practice those instructions to the ad-
and profit of MS both"
Upon hearing this. the curiosity Of !
Socrates was greatly excited. and he
most intenty TO what fol-
lowed.
TO begin. then, good Socrates:
When re sCerc cell enough acquainted,
and were SO familiar that We began to |
converse freely with one another,
asked her for what reason she thought |
had taken her to be my wife"
He then proceeded to give his young |
spouse a long discourse upon the duties
and privileges Of marriage. the main
object of which was the rearing Of
virtuous and competent children for
~ :, o~,re,-& ~ ~e,,;~ n,~u ls.,x,o %h> -
lace of their old age. and the service Of
the state. This discourse is so good
and SO wise that it would serve rs we'll
now as it did when it was written
twenty-five centuries ago; but the re-
circumstance ID that this
husband and wife were ignorant of one
mother until after their marriage; and
his is still the case with . large ma
jority Of the newly-married couples
throughout the world.
Among the Romans. although matrons
enjoyed more freedom and dignity than
among the Greeks. there WAS no such
hing known as cOurtship. Roman
law and Roman usage gave the father
almost absolute power over his daugh-
Ter, and he disposed of her hand ~ il it
had been his personal property.
The law went farther even than this.
He could dissolve . marriage which he
had himself arranged. and take his
daughter away from her husband and
children.
Those who think that American tree