Year: 1872

family, knit together N the strong
est affection. 81 can wish you nc
better lot, said he, with enthusiasm
ethan to have a wife and children.
III You are prosperous, they are to
share your prosperity; il otherwise.
they are to comfort you" And, in
deed, I have observed that Il mar
ried man falling into misfortune il
more apt to retrieve his situation IN
the world than q single one; partly
because he is more stimulated to ex-
tion by the necessities of the help
less and beloved beings who depend
upon him for subsistence; but chief
ly because his spirits are soothed
and relieved by domestic endear-
ments, and his self-respect kept alive
by finding, that though all abroad is
darkness and humiliation, yet there
is still little world of love at home,
of which he is the monarch. Where
as a single man is apt to run to
waste and self-neglect; to fancy him
self lonely and abandoned, and his
heart to ruin like some deserted man
sion, for want of an inhabitant.


The observations call to mind a lit
tie domestic story, of which I was
once a witness. My intimate friend,
Leslie, had married beautiful and
accomplished girl, who had been
brought up in the midat of fashion
able life. She had, it is true, no for
tune, but that of my friend was am
pie; and he delighted IN the antici-
patton of indulging her in every ele-
CANT pursuit, and administering to
those delicate tastes and facies that
spread q kind of witchery about the
sex.


"Her life," said he, "sba1 be Ike
a fairy tale"


The very difference in their char
acters produced an harmonious co1n-
bination; he was of a romantic and
serious cast; she was all life and
gladness. l have often noticed the
mute rapture with which he would
gaze upon her in company, of which
her sprightiy powers made her the
delight; and how, in the midst of Jap
plause, her eye would still turn to
him, as if there alone she sought fa-
vor and acceptance. When leaning
on his arm, her slender form con-
trasted finely with his tall, manly
person. The fond, confdingai air with
which she looked UP to him seemed
to call forth a flush of triumphant
pride and cherishing Tenderness, as
if he dotted on his lovely burden for
it's very helplessness. Never did a
couple set forward On the fowery
path of well-suited marriage with u
fairer prospect Of felicity.


1t was the misfortune of my friend
however, TO have embarked his prop
erty in large speculations; and had
not been married many months,
when, by a sudden succession of dis
asters it was swept from him, and
he found himself reduced almost to
penury For q time he kept his
situation to himself, and went about
with a haggard countenance, and a
breaking heart. His life was but a
protracied agony; and what render
ed it more insuppOrtable was the ne
cessity of keeping up smile IN the
presence OF his wife; for he could not
bring himself to overwhelm her
with the news. She saw, however,
with the quick eyes of affection, that
all was not well with him. She
marked his altered looks and stifed
sighs, and was not to be deceived by
his sickly and vapid attempts at
cheerfulness. She tasked all her
sprlghtly powers and tender BAN
ishments to win the deep arrow from
his soul. The more he saw cause to
love her, the more torturing was
the thought that he was soon to make
her wretched. A little while,
thought he, and the smile would van
ish from that cheek-the song will
die away from those hps-the luster
of those eyes will be quenched with
sorrow the bosom, will be weighed
down like mine, by the cares and
miseries of the world.


At length he came to me one day,
and related his whole situation IN a
tone of deepest despair. When |
heard him through inquired, "Does
your wife know all this?" At the
question he burst into an agony OF
tears. ''For Gods sske!" cried he,
eff you have any pity, on me, don't
mention my wife; it is the thought of
her that drives me almost to mad
ness!'


''And why not2" said l. "She
must know it sooner or later; you
cannot keep it long from her, and
the intelligence may break in upon
her in more startling manner, than
If imparted by yourself; for the nc
cents of those we love soften the
harshish tidings. Besides, you are
depriving yourself of the comforts
of her sympathy; and not merely
that, but also endangering the only
bond that can keep hearts together
-an unreserved community of
thought and feeling. She will soon
perceive that something is secretly
praying upon your mind; and true
love will not brook reserve; it feels
undervalued and outraged, when
even the sorrows of those 1t loves are
concealed from It.


'fOh, but my friendi to think what
blow I am to give to all her future
prospects-hOw l am to strike heI
very soul to the earth, by telling heI
that her husband is a beggarl that
she is to fOrego all the elegances Oi
life-all the pleasures of society-tC
shrink with me into indigence and
Obscurityi To tell her that 1 have
dragged her down from the sphere
in which she might have had con
slant brightness-th light of ever