THIS WIFE I LOVE.

I have a wife, A sweet and gracious woman, beautiful Beyond all beauty; for the blush of love, The smile of kindness, and the dancing light Of those joy-kindling eyes, in whose bright play

The innocent spirit revels, blend their spells With features delicate as lily bells; .

A shape more graceful than the clustering

vine.

Talk of thy stately charms! At Ida's side Thou wouldst show coarse and sun-burnt, as the brown

And rugged elm beside the shining beech. Ay, shrink and tremble! hide thy burning cheeks

Within thy quivering hands! Wilt thou hear more?

This lovely loving wife, my three years' bride,
And twice a mother. . . . Oh, none ever bent
With such a grace as she o'er sleeping babes,
Nor ever youthful mother bent o'er babes
So like the Cherubim! This wife, so fair,
So sweet, so womanly, whose pitying heart
Would ache to see a sparrow die, this wife
I love!
Miss Mitford.

TAKE MY FAITH, BY LOSS OF BEAUTY
UNREMOVED.

How canst thou dream of beauty as a thing
On which depends the heart's own withering?
Lips budding red with tints of vernal years,
And delicate lids of eyes that shed no tears,
And light that falls upon the shining hair
As though it found a second sunbeam there,-
These must go by, my Gertrude, must go by.
The leaf must wither and the flower must
die;

The rose can only have a rose's bloom:
Age would have wrought thy wondrous
beauty's doom;

A little sooner did that beauty go--
A little sooner-- darling, take it so,
Nor add a strange despair to all this woe;
And take my faith, by changes unremoved,
To thy last hour of age and blight, beloved!
Hon. Mrs. Norton.

she Rowe.

SHE REJOICES IN THE JOY OF HER HUSBAND.

She is one whom he loves with exclusive, with tender, with chaste, with pure affection; one who lives in the very centre of his heart; one dear to him as his own soul; one who is another himself. She loves not less than she is loved, will return his affection in full measure, will scorn to be outdone in kind attention and tender care, and will find a pure and perennial spring of joy to her own soul in making joyful the soul of her husband. John Rogers.

THE WIFE'S INFLUENCE.

Who has so many avenues to the heart as a woman? What influence affects like hers? By means of a connection the most attractive, an intercourse the most familiar-the persuasion of words, the eloquence of tears, an example the most lovely and always placed in view a wife has a thousand opportunities of removing prepossessions, of fixing impressions, of engaging attention, of insinuating goodness. Dr. Burns.

How much the wife is dearer than the bride! Lord Lyttelton.

THE NEW-BORN GLORIES THAT ADORN THEE.

Let me for ever gaze, And bless the new-born glories that adorn thee:

From every blush that kindles in thy cheeks Ten thousand little loves and graces spring. Rowe.

THE SWEETEST THING IN LIFE. The world well tried, the sweetest thing in life

Is the unclouded welcome of a wife.

N. P. Willis.

A SOUL-MATE AS WELL AS A

HELPMATE.

For a man to enjoy repose and happiness in marriage he must have in his wife a soulmate as well as a helpmate. But it is not requisite that she should be merely a pale copy of himself. A man no more desires in his wife a manly woman than the woman desires in her husband a womanly man. A woman's best qualities do not reside in her intellect, but in her affections. She gives refreshment by her sympathies, rather than by her knowledge.

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. There may be difference in character, but there must be harmony of mind and sentimenttwo 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."

AN EMBLEM OF WOMAN.

Smiles.

I am a woman; tell me not of fame.
The eagle's wing may sweep the stormy path,
And fling back arrows where the dove would
die.

Look on those flowers near yon acacia tree-
The lily of the valley; mark how pure
The snowy blossoms, and how soft a breath
Is almost hidden by the large dark leaves.
Not only have those delicate flowers a gift
Of sweetness and of beauty, but the root-
A healing power dwells there, fragrant and
fair,

But dwelling still in some beloved shade.
Is not this woman's emblem? she whose
smile

Should only make the loveliness of homeWho seeks support and shelter from man's

heart,

And pays it with affection, quiet, deep,

And in his sickness-sorrow-with an aid He did not deem in aught so fragile dwelt. Miss Landon,

ALL THINGS IN COMMON. Between husband and wife there should be no question as to meum and tuum. All things should be in common between them, without any distinction or means of distinguishing. Luther.

WOMAN'S WORK.

A certain fuss of occupation fits in with woman's place and nature. Their work looks natural, and has never a touch of reproof in it, which man's fussiness always has. A man cannot be busy without a certain ostentation; but a woman may be in a little commotion from morning till night, occupied with her needle, with her household, her studies, her accomplishments, even with her schools and amongst her poor; and instead of exciting our spleen, if she manage well, we feel as it were sleeping partners in her labours, and by some mysterious process to have a share in the merit of them. But a busy woman, who is always otherwise engaged when she is wanted, who keeps her husband waiting for dinner, who talks with solemn prolixity of her schemes and doings-how she labours, how much depends upon her who delights in being over-driven, who describes herself as in a turmoil of business, and is for ever parading her own hobbies-is perhaps the greater bore of the two; for she is the greater contradiction to the ideal wife, as being uncomfortable and irritating. She is worrying where worry is least looked for, and is therefore the greater hardship. But there are not many such women. They figure in books rather than in actual life; and so much is occupation congenial to women, that even this is better than doing nothing. Society does not assume for them that background of hard work which gives to men's social idleness the pretence of relaxation; and thus listlessness, inactivity, and folding of the hands in wives, is a painful anomaly to their idlest male friends, and acts upon them like a cold hearth or lukewarm coffee. In fact, it is unpretending or trifling employments that should be made prominent.

Ruskin.

HONOUR TO BE GIVEN TO THE WIFE.

This honour, however, will have regard to her mind and moral character, as well as to her outward form or physical nature. He will honour the woman- the helpmeet, the wife, the companion, the transcript of himself, and in all things worthy to dwell in his heart, and to be the desire of his eyes, and nothing inferior except in feminine delicacy and weakness, calling more loudly for his manly regard and affectionate care.

Dr. Burns.

A WIFE OF BROW SERENE.

Star of my heaven, by which my soul steers right,

Through storm and calm, through sorrow and dismay;

Thou trusty beacon in life's dreary night, A pleasant song to cheer me on my way, A gentle voice to chide me if I stray; 'Tis vain to pile up titles! my sweet queen: So at your feet this loving song I lay, Which but for your kind smiles had never been,

Therefore 'tis due to thee, wife of the brow serene ! Thomas Powell.

SWIFTNESS OF PERCEPTION IN WOMEN.

The greatest swiftness of perception in women is a very brilliant and attractive quality, and one of which they are conscious and proud. Their mental machinery works more quickly and easily than does that of man. In that kaleidoscope-like welling-up of thoughts that seems to take place in the mind, theirs seem to be thrown to the surface in greater abundance and more rapidly than i those of men. A woman will never sit long together without some available thought coming up. Her fancy is richer than ours is, and she has more fecundity of ideas. But this greater fecundity produces widely different results in different individuals. In women of high capacity and intelligence it leads to the development of many very delightful qualities. They have a readiness of resource which enables them to say the very thing that is most right at the very moment when it is most wanted; to rectify the blunders of other people-of their stupid male relatives notably ; to anticipate and prevent some threatening contretemps, or to counteract its effects a moment after its occurrence. It enables them to set the talk going at critical moments, and to keep it alive with bright answers and lively repartees always. It gives them the power of keeping people in good humour, or of restoring their equanimity when it is gone. Anon.

A WIFE'S TRUE PORTION.

What the world calls a portion with a wife,
I boast not of as such; but chastity,
Becoming shame, and moderate desires ;
My fear of heaven, my fondness of my parents,
My friendship and regard for our relations,
The course of my behaviour towards yourself;
My bounty to the good, and my concern
To cherish virtue, and reward the virtuous.
A virtuous ancestry, a mind so chaste,
So strictly faithful to the nuptial tie,
It dreads the thought of any other man-
These are an ample portion with a wife.
Dryden.

[Adam] press'd her matron lip with kisses

pure, Aside the Devil turn'd for envy.

Milton.

FAIR WITH THE LOVE OF ALL HIS LIFE.

It seem'd precious to regain
Each old accustomed thing and mode,
And find for him there still abode
Unchanged the honourable love;
And many a time he sought to move,
With sudden tenderness new felt,
Some little memory that dwelt
Far away in its hidden place
Among the rest; or on the face
Unchanging sweet of his true wife,
Fair with the love of all his life;
He would find still, and prize it best,
Some likeness of the tenderest
And first love-look.

Arthur W. E. O'Shaughnessy.

RIVER OF ALL MY HOPES THOU WERT
AND ART.

A husband's love was there; a husband's love,
Strong, comforting, all other loves above;
On her bow'd neck he laid his tender hand,
And his voice steadied to his soul's command.
Oh, thou mistaken and unhappy child,

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Still thy complainings, for thy words are wild. Thy beauty, though so perfect, was but one Of the bright ripples dancing to the sun, Which, from the hour I hoped to call thee wife,

Glanced down the silver stream of happy life. Whatever change Time's heavy clouds may make,

Those are the waters which my thirst shall slake ;

River of all my hopes thou wert and art,
The current of thy being bears my heart;
Whether it sweep along in shine or shade,
By barren rocks, or banks in flowers array'd,
Foam with the storm, or glide in soft repose,-
In that deep channel love unswerving flows."
Hon. Mrs. Norton.

A WORLD OF COMFORT IN THE WORD WIFE.

Yes, a world of comfort Lies in that one word, wife: after a bickering day,

To come with jaded spirit home at night
And find the cheerful fire,

At which, in dress of happy cheeks and eyes,
Love sits, and smiling, lightens all the board.
Knowles.

In the husband wisdom,-in the wife gentleness. George Herbert.