Year: 1866

satisfaction, now the little oddities OIL
men who marry rather late in life are
pruned away speedily after their mar
riage. You have found man who
used to be ehabbily aud carelessly dress
ed, with a huge shirt collar frayed at
the edges, and gIaring yellow silk
pocket handkerchief, broken of these
things. and become a pattern of neat
ness. You have seen man whose hair
and whiskers were rdiculously cut,
speedily become like other human be-
ings. You have seen clergyman who
wore long beard, in little while sp-
pear without one. You have seen a
man who used to sing ridulous senti-
mental songs, leave them off. You
have seen a man who took snuff copi-
ouSly. and who generally had his breast
covered with snuff, abandon the vile
habit. A wife is the grand wielder of
the moral pruning-knife. If Johnson's
wife had lived. there would have been
no boarding up of bits Of orange-peel
no touching all the posts in walking
along the street; no eating and drink
ing with disgusting yolacity. II Oil
yer Goldsmith had been married, he
would never have worn that memorable
and ridiculous coat. Whenever, you
find a man whom you know little about,
oddly dressed, or talking ridiculousIy,
or exhibiting any eccentricity of man
ner, you may be tolerably sure that be
is not a married man For the little
corners are rounded of, the little shoots
are pruned away IN married men.
Wives generally have much more sense
than their husbands, especially when
their husbands are clever men The
wifes advices are like the ballast that
keeps the ship steady. They are ike
the wholesome though painful shears,
shipping off little growths Of self-con-
ceit aud folly.


So you may see that it is not good
for man to be alone. For he will put
out various shoots athls own sour will,
which will grow into monstrous ugly
and absurd branches unless they are
pruned away while they are young.
But it is quite as bad, perhaps it is
worse, to live among people with whom
you are all oracle.


Probably among the class Of old bach
elors you may find the most signal in
stances of the evil consequence OF going
through life with nobody to prune one.
| could easily record such manifestations
Of Stiffness and absurdity in the case Of
such men as would be incredible. OF
course | am not going to do so. An
old bachelor Of some standing, living in
a solitary house, with servants who
dare not prune him, and with acquaint-
auces who will not take the trouble to
prune him, must necessarily, unless he
be very wise and good man, grow into
most amorphous shape. | beg the
reader to mark the exception make;
for presume he will agree with me
when | say, that in the class Of old bach
elors and old maids may be found some
of the nobest specimens of the human
race. Ajudicious wife is always snip
ping off from her husbands moral ma
ture little twigs that are growing in
wrong directions She keeps him in
shape by continual pruning. lfyou de-
clare that you will do some absurd thing,
she will fnd means Of preventing your
doing it. And by far the chief part OF
all the common sense there is in this
world, belongs unqnestionably to wo-
men. The wisest things man COM
monty does are those which his wife
couusels him to do It's not always so.
You may have known a man to do, at
the instigation OF his wife, things 50
malicious, petty, and stupid, that it is
inconceivable any man should ever do
them at all. But such cases are excep-
tional. Is. I.