" (6) But though no man may love
a woman for her understanding, it is not the less necessary for
her to cultivate it on that account. (7) There may be difference
in character, but there must be harmony of mind and sentiment--
two intelligent souls as well as two loving hearts:
"Two heads in council, two beside the hearth,
Two in the tangled business of the world,
Two in the liberal offices of life."
There are few men who have written so wisely on the subject of
marriage as Sir Henry Taylor. What he says about the influence of
a happy union in its relation to successful statesmanship, applies
to all conditions of life. The true wife, he says, should possess
such qualities as will tend to make home as much as may be a place
of repose. To this end, she should have sense enough or worth
enough to exempt her husband as much as possible from the troubles
of family management, and more especially from all possibility of
debt. "She should be pleasing to his eyes and to his taste: the
taste goes deep into the nature of all men--love is hardly apart
from it; and in a life of care and excitement, that home which is
not the seat of love cannot be a place of repose; rest for the
brain, and peace for the spirit, being only to be had through the
softening of the affections. He should look for a clear
understanding, cheerfulness, and alacrity of mind, rather than
gaiety and brilliancy, and for a gentle tenderness of disposition
in preference to an impassioned nature.
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