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LETTER IV.
My Dear Lizzie,
I have thought many, many times of your last beautiful, 'wife-like' letter. It was so full of tenderness — so full of a spirit of humility — so free from all selfishness — that it called from my heart a gush of the warmest emotion. I have read it again and again, and each time with an increased feeling of interest and pleasure.
You are in the right path, now, darling — God grant that you may never be induced to deviate from it! Go on as you have commenced, and, believe me — more happiness will be yours than you have ever dreamed of. There is no richer treasure in this world — no greater blessing — no more unalloyed happiness to a woman — than the perfect trust and love of a good husband. The tie that binds the wedded couple, is one that must be guarded well — or it may become partially unloosed, and it is almost impossible ever to fasten it as at first.
Cherish that all-absorbing love for your husband, which now so fills your heart. Regard nothing as beneath your watchful attention which adds to his happiness. Consult his wishes, his tastes — in all your actions, your habits, your dress. Above all, never 'deceive' him. Be able ever to meet him with an unflinching eye, a true and honest heart.
Ever be guided by the lovely light of right principle — let this direct you in all your paths; keep your eye fixed upon it; lose not sight of it a moment, for it beams from a beautiful home of peaceful happiness, where it would lead you, and where all arrive who follow its guidance.
Cultivate in your heart a love of home, and home duties. Strive to make that place as attractive as possible, and do everything in your power to render it an agreeable resting-place for your husband. The daily routine of home duties, when performed in the right spirit, diffuse a feeling of cheerfulness over one's heart that can never be found in the applause of the world, or the gratification of any favorite desire.
Endeavor to make your husband's evenings at home as pleasant as you are able; call forth all your powers of pleasing; bring up his favorite topics of conversation; amuse him with music; do all that you can to convince him that he has a most delightful wife — and trust me, dear girl, you will never fail to make his own fireside, the happiest spot in the world to him.
I once knew a wife who complained to me, with many tears, that her husband left her, evening after evening, to pass his time in the reading-room of a hotel. Questioning the husband upon his desertion of so pleasant a wife, he replied to me, that he had commenced his married life with the determination to be a kind, stay-at-home husband — but that he had actually been driven from his home — and for what, do you imagine, my dear Lizzie? Why, because he had not the simple privilege of enjoying a cigar! Yes, his wife actually would not allow him to smoke in the parlor where their evenings were passed, because, forsooth, she was afraid of spoiling her new curtains! They, it seems, were of more importance to her than the comfort of her husband. He had been confirmed in the habit of smoking for years, and could not pass an evening without it. He did not feel inclined to sit alone in a cold, cheerless room, so he went to a neighboring hotel, which he found so lively and pleasant that he came to the conclusion, for the future, to enjoy his cigars there.
You may smile, and look upon this as a trifle — and so it was; yet was it of sufficient importance to drive a man from his own fireside, and render a woman lonely and unhappy.
Life is made up of trifles, and it is by paying attention to opportunities of winning love by 'little things' — that a wife makes her husband and herself happy. Are such means, then, to be neglected, when they lead to such results?
I must bid you adieu now for a while, dear Lizzie. I think of you very, very often, and pray most fervently that you may be enabled so to perform your duties as a wife — as to be ablessing to your husband, and an example to all womankind.
Ever your friend.
The End
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