She sinks to nothing where she
would be, as she should be, of half the importance of life at least.
To preserve her position, it will be necessary for all good women to try
and elevate the condition of their sisters. With all of us, "the world
is too much with us, day by day;" and worldly success plays so large a
part in the domestic drama, that woman is everywhere perceptibly
influenced by it. Hence, to return to the closer consideration of the
subject from our own point of view, the majority of men's wives in the
upper and middle classes fall far short of that which is required of a
good wife. They are the wives not made by love, but by the chance of a
good match. They are the products of worldly prudence, not of a noble
passion; and, although they may be very comfortable and very well clad,
though they may think themselves happy, and wear the very look of health
and beauty, they can never be to their husbands what a wife of true and
real tender love would be.
The consequence is that, after the first novelty has passed away, the
chain begins to rub and the collar to gall. "The girl who has married
for money," writes a clergyman, "has not by that rash and immoral act
blinded her eyes to other and nobler attractions. She may still love
wisdom, though the man of her choice may be a fool; she will none the
less desire gentle, chivalrous affection because he is purse-proud and
haughty; she may sigh for manly beauty all the more because he is coarse
and ugly; she will not be able to get rid of her own youth, and all it
longs for, by watching his silver hair.
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