Page:Peterson's Magazine 1842, Volume I.pdf/185

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156
THE LADY'S
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"Fame, renown, and glory, are three hypocrites, and I never ask them home with me. When I go to the play-house they seem to accompany me ; they flatter, they caress, and they applaud me ; but when I return to my dressing-room I bid them good night ; they go to sleep, and so do I. That, Sir, is my pride-but will you take a pinch of snuff?”

" Oh, Tom Moore ! Tom Moore !" murmured the distracted lover. " Only fancy the idol that you have immortalized as the perfection of beauty, snuffing up handsful of filthy black rappee." "And now, Mr. Cornelius, answer me truly and frankly. Do you still intend to shoot yourself on my account ?"

"No, Miss Garnett. No, no. Heaven forbid !"

"That is said like a sensible little man, as I am sure you are. To die for love is the most preposterous thing possible. Only fancy, a barber in the next street hung himself last week for love of my servant girl, Sally, and she has horrid bad teeth. But now pledge me your honor, and the honor of your highly respectable father and his interesting family, that you will live."

"I give you my own honor, and the honor of my father, and the honor of all the O'Donoughues, that I will live as long as I can. And this, at all events, you may rely upon, that I will never again think of shooting myself for an actress ." "Good bye, then, Mr. Cornelius. I mean never to forget you ; and should I ever be engaged in a lawsuit, you may depend on it, I shall retain you as my leading counsel." Miss Garnett rose and curtseyed to the enamored swain, and Sally showed him to the door, inside of which he was resolved never again to enter. His love was perfectly cured. He returned to his father, who, a few years afterward, had the happiness of seeing his son as "Counsellor" O'Donoughue, and giving to his clients at the assizes, the benefit of his legal knowledge : though, I am sorry to add, it could not prevent the majority of them from being transported beyond the seas for the period of their natural lives.

THE MEDICEAN VENUS . WOMAN divine ! fair child of Grecian seas, Whose sunny billows gird the Cyclades ; Within all modest, wanting outward dress, Thou fillest this new time with loveliness, And seem'st with head half turned and earnest soul, To hear afar thy natal waters roll. Young joy of human hearts ! the earth to me Is fairer now, because containing thee. STERLING.

EDUCATION OF WOMAN . WE are sick of the cant about blue-stocking women -as if a woman was any the worse for being intellectual ! No one who understands the true position of the sex, and the influence that it exerts upon society, can join in this insane cry against the education of her who is destined to be a companion to ourselves and a mother to our children. What is the true position of woman ? Is she a slave or an equal ? Is she a mere toy or a rational companion ? Who will, at this day, deny her the possession of qualities, which, although somewhat different from those of the other sex, fit her in every respect to be his help-mate and adviser ? The age of barbarism has past, and with it the notion that woman was fit only to be the slave of man. The more refined sensuality of the East, which regards her merely as a toy for the amusement of the stronger sex, finds no advocate in this enlightened epoch, amid a Christian people. Woman is now regarded as the equal, in every respect, of man -entitled to the same rights, fitted to share his anxieties, capable of being his confidant and adviser in all the business of life. But although the equality of woman is admitted on all hands, it does not follow that her sphere is the same as that of man. The citizens of the same commonwealth all possess equal rights, but they do not all live by the same occupation, nor would it be for the good of the community that they should. So the two sexes have distinct duties to perform. Woman is destined for the quieter, man for the more noisy acts of life. The province of the one is to cheer our fireside, to educate our children, to regulate our household economy : the business of the other is to toil for the livelihood of those dear beings whom he has left at home, and to protect them against the thousand evils of the world. God has appointed to each a sphere, and bestowed on each peculiar qualities of mind and heart to fit them for their duty. The tenderness of soul, the patient endurance of suffering, the thousand graces of mind and manner which particularly distinguish the female sex are not more adapted to the sphere of woman as a wife and mother, than the clearer intellect, firmer resolve, and greater physical powers are to the sterner offices of life which the man is called on to fulfil. Each of these spheres has its peculiar rights as well as its peculiar duties, the exclusive enjoyment of which by no means derogates from the equality of the sexes. Ifit is improper for a husband to interfere with the sphere of his wife, so also is it unseemly for her to intrude on the province of the husband. It is no more the business of woman to lead our armies, to vote at the ballot-box, or to wrangle on a public rostrum, than it is for a man to darn