-'
12
THE COURIER
CHARACTER SKETCHES.
THE VAbUE.OF A WIFE.
NO. 10.
W
NE of the greatest charms in a woman is a sweet voice. It is
not a common virtue. Englishmen, of a critical turn of
mind, have said that one of the chief points of difference
!etween the English and the American girl is that while the former
has often a low, musical voice, the latter's is generally shrill and
harsh. Certain it is that inthia country practically no attention is
given to voice culture for purely conversational purposes, and the
girl who pipes and elevates her voice is much more often met with
than the girl who shows ber refinement in her voice, and talks to
you in well modulated tones, low and musical.
Culture is manifested in no way more clearly than in the voice.
It is difficult to imagine that the woman who shrieks and whose
voice sometimes batters the drums in your ears and sends a tingle
along your spinal column, is a person of any considerable refine
ment. Though there are women of this sort who talk of bookB and
pictures and landscapes. A woman who has no control over her
voice has omitted one very important lesson in the school of culture.
It is easy, on the other hand, to believe that the woman who ex
presses herself clearly and forcibly in low, resonant tones, never al
lowing her voice to ascend to the treble, is refined and cultivated in
things other than the voice.
The voice may not be an unfailing index to character; but is it not
infrequently a strong indication in women particularly. The
woman whoso voice is soft is quite likely to have the concomitant
graces. She will, in many cases, be found to have, if not an equable
temper, at least strong self coatrol; amiability, gentleness, kindli
ness, sympathy; all these without in any way detracting from her
force of character. The woman who talks in a loud manner, who
has a harsh, discordant voice, may be nervous, excitable, easily irri
tated, head-strong.
I have in mind a young woman whom I have known for seven or
eight years. I have seen her under trying circumstances, and when
the incentive to excitement was strong; but her voice was always
under perfect control. It is soft and rich, intensely musical in
laughter, and never, under any circumstances, is it harsh or jar
ring. It is a pleasure to hear her talk. She has great strength of
character and wide culture, and a mildness of manner that varies
just enough to give piquancy. With her everything, apparently,
goes smoothly, and it is a pleasure to witness the ease with which she
meets the bugbear people call trouble. She takes life thoughtfully
and calmly and brings her intelligence to bear on all the emergen
cies that spring up in the pathway along which she glides easily and
gracefully.
But it is of her voice and manner of talking, particularly, that I
wish to speak. All of the grace and sweetness of her character
seem to be reflected in the refined and gentle tones of her voice.
When she speaks things seem to soften. If there is any discord
where she may happen to be, she strikes the note of harmony and
brings peace. She laughs in a whole hearted way, but always in
the most musical manner. She talks earnestly and spiritedly, but
tt"5 flexibility of her voice never betrays any evidence of a lack of
thorough culture. Friendliness and sympathetic interest and
sincerity are evident in her voice. If you could not see her face or
eyes you could tell her character when she spoke, and you would
trust her. Her voice is tuneful with all of her womanly traits, and
no one would ever doubt her truth who heard her speak. Teys.
Money may be tight, but it is not whooping things up.
"Six days shalt thou labor," Bays the great lawgiver. To do good
work man must be at his best. This condition is attained by the
use of Ayer's Sarsaparilla. It overcomes that tired feeling, quickens
the appetite, improves digestion and makes the weak strong.
Famous have a full line of exclusive styles, to be had only from
them.
fifo VERYTHING has a value; but the value of some things is ex
fe) ceedingly difficult to determine. A wife, for instance, has been
generally claimed among those articles, which, although pro
perly regarded as necessaries of life, are commonly supposed to be
incapable of definite valuation in dollars and cents. Value, we are
told, means worth, and this, of course, all our wives have; but like
other commodities, it fluctuates. There are times when a wife is
worth more to us than all the world beside when she is priceless,
invaluable. This is when the domestic horizon is clear, the house
hold relations pleasant, and the environment auspicious when our
heated brow is soothed by the good wife's caressing touch on our
return from a day's toil, and when the cooing of the dove is not fol
lowed by a smiling demand for opera tickets, or a couple of "tenners"
for a new bonnet. Under these circumstances it would be impossible
to fix a value on our better half. Under other conditions, however,
there is a visible decline in value. When after a day of worry, we
wend our weary way to the domestic fireside and aro met with a
reproach for beingv late, and then a chilling reminder that tomorrow
iB the first of, the month and that the dry goods store will want the
money for that new spring outfit then we would sell out cheap.
There are also, it must be admitted, different kinds of wives, and
difference in quality means or should always mean a difference in
value. A wife who is the only child of a dyspeptic old money bags
is apt to tip the scale on the one who is the eighth daughter of poor
but honest parents. This is another difficulty in the way of fixing
her value. Then a wife who is priceless to her husband might not
be worth a song to any one else and, alas, there are cases where this
is reversed. All these things, and sundry and divers others, have
made it impossible to arrive at anything like an equitable valuation
of a wife. The court of appeals of Virginia, however, in its
superior wisdom, has risen above all of these considerations and has
given us a standard. The jury in a lower court not long ago
rendered a verdict of $6,000 for a loss by accident of a "superior"
' wife, and this finding was affirmed by the court above. So we can
have no hesitancy, if we have a superior wife, in adding an extra
$6,000 to our assets when making pur report to Bradstreet and .Dun.
The court, in commenting on the case, said: "If the wife be loving,
tender and dutiful to her husband; thrifty, industrious, economical,
prudent as the evidence in this case proved Mrs. McConnell to be
then 'her price is far above rubies, and the loss of such a wife, of
such a helpmeet, o f such influence, of such a blessed and potent
ministry and companionship, is a proper element of damages to bo
considered by the jury in fixing the solatium to be awarded to the
husband for tearing her from his heart and heme."
POTPOURRI.
Q) STABROOK told the preachers, when they met in national
fe) convention in Omaha, that this was a climate where more re
ligion would flourish on less theology than could be found
in the world. Estabrook s a prophet.
There's any amount of religion in Lincoln that isn't labeled at all.
because there don't appear to be any creeds tacked onto it. Re
ligion all the same.
The kind that the Master dealt out to the woman to whom He
said, "Neither do I condemn thee."
The kind that whispered to the sorrowing, words of comfort so
divine, that their beauty has made them eternal; the kind that was
never blind or deaf to sin, or weakness, or suffering that never for
got its own. The pure, unadulterated love of Christ, showing in the
kindly hand and heart, reaching out to recognize the universal
brotherhood of man.
Upon reflection is it not true that consistency is the most perfect
ly inconsistent thing in the world?
The artists who paint the devil in his blackest dyes, are generally
the ones whose own lives would stand a few. high lights to good
advantage.
Augusta L. Packard.
Purely vegetable Hood's Pills 25c
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