The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-12-11
Neglected Wives.
A STIRRING PAPER ON AN IMPoR-
TANT SUBJECT.


have left in their domestic life.
Though ingorant no doubt Of the far
reaching consequences of every word
or action, yet the penalty is as swift
and sure as if the law were knowingly
violated.
DR.. Franklin, the far famed utilita-
rian kite flyer, went to Europe, leav-
ing his wife behind him, and never
saw her face for eleven years. But tshe
shared his poverty, practiced his poor
Richard maxims, pinched and econo-
mized, patched and darned, bred chill
dren and nursed them through chick
en- pox, whooping cough, measles,
scarlet fever and fits, while Benjamin
enjoyed the splendors of court velvet
couches good dinners and choice socle-
ty. When he returned the poor drudge
was no match for the great philoso-
pher. That her heart rebelled in her
solitude and neglect is manifest in the
headstrong acts of her children.
Franlin quarrelled with his sons ana
disinherited one of them. Thus were
the mothers wrongs avenged.
Henry Clay, too, thought he could
safely leave his wife at Ashland to bear
children and make butter for the Lex
ington market, while he made laws for
the nation and made love to lovely wo
men in Washington. There his hear
stood always open, as boarding house
door, but shut against her, who was
playing Solomon's wise woman on a
farm in Kentucky, cutting out lind
seys and jeans for the negroes. His
dream of ambition over, sick and sad
he returned to Ashland, to find that
the domestic drudge, called by the no
ly name of wife, had reared him race
of degenerate children. He was fill
ed with disappointment, but his sor-
row only measured the depths of the
mothers humiliation. The angels OF
evidence and retaliation were but
equal. Was. it the unhappy mother
that made one son crazy with hopeless
love, another sour, discontented man,
overcome through life with a sense OF
infirmityr and jockeys and gamblers OF
the rest?
Truly wisdom is titled Of her chill
dren. We do not gather grapes o.
thorns or figs of thistles. We cannot
ouench our thirst at sweet and pleasant
streams whose fountains we have poi
soned. Henry Clay, the great pacifica-
tor, the staunch protectionist, is dead ;
his compromise measures are scattered
to the winds, but his misdeeds lived
long after him. His son, Theodore,
fingered in an insane asylum upward
of fifty years, long, weary life OF
hopeless dependency.
One son was an influential member
of congress, governor of Connecticut
and Judge of the supreme court. An
other was one of the largest land OWL
ers in the West and commissioner OF
patents in Washington. One daugh-
ter married the chief justice of the su-
preme court of Connecticut, etc., all
alike taking first rank in society.
Late in life, reviewing her course and
it's results, she used to say she had
made one grave error. She had
thought it her constant duty to stay
with her family on the farm, as thus
she could best help her husband. he
went to Washington always without
her. to France without her, and
though their affection was not lost,
their knowledge of each other became
unsatisfactory. She used to say to her
daughters, Keep with your hus-
bands, 20 for few weeks every winter
to Washington never mind the long
tedious, hard stage ride; keep with
him at any sacrifice. Read, think
study the questions of the hour, the
literature of the day, keep pace with
them in knowledge and attainment
Thus only can you be companions sul!-
ed 10 each other. My husband grew
away from me, not in affection wholly
but in attainment. We started togeth-
er as equals. I had seen as much Of
life, books and good society as he had.
We were alike capable of spiritual and
intellectual companionship, but I, for
getful of my first duty, selt-develop-
ment, gave up all the advantages ana
oportunities for Improvement, and llv-
ed wholly with children and servants
r took no note of the world without.
no interest in the laws and constitu-
ton of my country, no interest IN ma
tional questions, in the subjects tnat
absorbed his mind. With extensive
reading, thought, good society," foreign
travel, his views grew broader day by
dav too broad to meet me in the mar
row grooves where all my Thoughts
and interests were centered, Absorbed
in family selfishness, knew nothing
of the people, books and subjects tnat
enorossed his later life. We bore the
same name, my solitude was respecta-
BILE, but my heart yearned for compan'
ionship."
oliver Ellsworth, chief justice OF the
supreme court of the United states;