The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-05-07
.... rh-;.. and Cbristianitv have done

that Christ and Christianity have done
for q woman, she can 60 again and again
10 hear such assaults. she is an awful crea.
ture, and you mad better not come near
such a reeking lepress. She needs to be
washed, and for three weeks to be soaked
in carbolic acid. and for a whole, year
fumigated. before she Is ft for decent
society. While it is not demanded that
woman be Christian before marriage
Gcion or she Is n bad woman and un-
worthy OF being your companion IN a life
charged with such stupendous solemnity
and vicissitudes. :.
What you want. o man! in a wife. il
not a butterfly Of the sunshine. not q
ciecling nonentity. not Q painted doll:
not a gossiping gadabout. not mixture oi
artificialities which leave you in doubt as
TO where the humbug ends and the woman
begins. but an earnest soul, one that can
not only laugh when you laugh, hut weep
when you weep. There will be wide, deep
graves in your path of life. and you viii
the verge Of them, / tell you. When your
fortune fails you will want some one to
talk of treasures in heaven. and not charge
upon you with q bitter. II told You 50. =.
As far as ! can analyze it. sincerity and
earnestness are the foundation OF al!
worthy wifehood. Get that and you get
all Fail to get that. and You get moth:
ing but what you will wish you never had
Don't make the mistake that the man
of the text made in letting his eye settle
the question in which coolest Judgment
directed by divine wisdom are all.im.
Il ,k& kan
wifely choice except q pretty face is like
a man who should buy farm because OF
the dahlias in the front dooryard. Beauty
is a talent, and when God gives it He in
tends il rs a benediction upon woman's
face. When the good Princess OF Wales
dismounted from the rail train last sum:
mer, and saw her radiant face, ] could
understand what they told me the day
before. that. when at the great military
hospital 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 and
wasted lips prayed an audible prayer:
God bless the Princess of Wales. Doesn't
she look beautifully"
But how uncertain is the tarrying OF
beauty in human countenance! Explosion
of a kerosene lamp turns it into sacrltica.
ton. and a scoundrel with one dash OF
vitriol may dispel it. or Time will drive
his chariot wheels across that bright face.
cutting it up in deep ruts and gullies. But
there is an eternal beauty on the face OF
some women, whom a rough and ungal::
LIANT world may criticise as homely; and
though their features may contradict all
the laws of Lavater on physiognomy; yet
they have graces Of soul that will keep
them attractive for time and glorious
through al eternity.
There are two or three circumstances
in which the plainest wife is q queen of
beauty to her husband, whatever her
stature or profile. BY financial panic or
betrayal OF business partner. the man goes
down, and returning to his home that
in disgrace forever: care not whether
I live or die It is an agitated story he
il telling in the household that winter
night. He says: ''The furniture must
90, the house must 60, the social
position must Co." and from being
sought for obsequiously they must be
cold-shouldered everywhere, After he he
in silence. she says: 'Is that all? Why:
YOU had nothing when I married you. and
Won have only come back to where you
started. If you think that my happiness
and that Of the children depend on these
trainings. 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
IL you don't mind, I don't care cent.
What little we need OF food and raiment
the rest of our lives we can get and I
don't propose to sit down and NOPE and
groan. Mary. hand me that darning.
needle. I DECLARE! ! have forgotten to
set the rising for those cakes! And while
she is busy at t he hears her hnmmins
Newton's old hymn. Tomorrow"
The husband looks up in amazement.
and says. ''Well. well. you are the great
est woman ] ever saw. I thought you
would faint dead away when I told YOU" I"
And as he looks at her all the glories OF
physiognomy in the Court OF Louis XIV.
on the modern fashion plates. are tame as
compared with the superhuman sp,endors
Of that woman's face. Joan Of Arc. Mary
Antoinette, and La Belle Hamilton. the
cnchantment Of the Court OF Charles II,
are nowhere.
There is another time when the plainest
wife is a queen of beauty to her husband.
She has done the work Of life. She has
IedTeQ CuuuIcu IOE oOu
and though some of them may be q little
wild they will yet come back. for God has
promised. She is dying, and her husband
stands BY They think over all the years
of their companionship. the weddings and
the burials. the ups and the down. the
successes and the failures. They talk
over the goodness of God and His faith.
fuinesa to childrer's children. She has NO
fear about going. The Lord has sustained
her so many years she would not dare to
distrust Him now. The lips of both Of
them tremble as thev say good-by and en-
courage each other about an early meeting
in a better world. The breath is feebler
and feebler. and stops. Are you sure of it !
Just hold that mirror ut the mouth. and
see If there is any vapor gathering on the
surface. Gone! As one of the neighbors
takes the old man by the arm gently and
says: Come. You had better 20 into the
next room and rest" he says: wait a
moment; ! must take one more look at
that face and Mt those hands," Beautiful!
Beautiful!
Nv friends, hope you do not can that
death. That is an autumnal sunset. That
is a crystalline river pouring into q crys.
tai sea. That is the solo of humnn life
overpowered by hallelujah chorus. That 10
a queens coronation. That is heaven.
That is the way my father stood at eighty.
two. seeing my mother depart at seventy.
nine. Perhaps so your father and mother
went. / wonder If We will die as well.