ADVICE TO A WIFE. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. A good wife is Heaven's last, best gift to man-his angel and minister of graces innumerable-his gem of many virtues-his casket of jewels;-her voice is sweet music-her smiles, his brightest day-her kiss, the guardian of his innocence her arms, the pale of his safety, the balm of his health, the balsam of his life-her industry, his surest wealth-her economy, his safest steward—her lips, his faithful counsellors-her bosom, the softest pillow of his cares-and her prayers, the ablest advocate of Heaven's blessings on his head. -JEREMY TAYLOR. A guardian angel o'er his life presiding, Of earthly goods, the best is a good Wife; ROGERS. SIMONIDES. 1. Ir may be well-before I enter on the subjects of menstruation, of pregnancy, of labour, and suckling-to offer a few preliminary observations, especially addressed to a Young Wife. 2. My subject is health-the care, the restoration, and the preservation of health-one of the most important themes that can be brought before a human being, one that should engross much of our time and of our attention, and one that cannot be secured unless it be properly inquired into and attended to. The human frame is, as every one knows, constantly liable to be out of order; it would be strange, indeed, if a beautiful and complex instrument like the human body were not occasionally out of tune : "Strange! that a harp of thousand strings 3. The Advice I am about to offer to my fair reader is of the greatest importance, and demands her deepest attention. (15) How many wives are there with broken health, with feeble constitutions, and with childless homes! Their number is legion! It is painful to contemplate that, in our country, there are far more unhealthy than healthy wives! There luust surely be numerous causes for such a state of things! A woman, born with every perfection, to be full of bodily infirmities! It was ordained by the Almighty that wives should be fruitful and multiply! Surely there must be something wrong in the present system if they do not do so! It will, in the following pages, be my object to point out many of the causes of so much ill-health among wives; ill-health that sometimes leads to barrenness; and to suggest remedies both for the prevention and for the cure of such causes. 4. It is an astounding and lamentable fact, that one out of eight-that twelve and a half per cent. of all the wives of England are barren-are childless! A large majority of this twelve and a half per cent. might be made fruitful, provided a more judicious plan of procedure than is at present pursued were adopted. My anxious endeavours, in the following pages, will be to point out remedies for the evil, and to lay down rules-rules which, I hope, my fair reader will strenuously follow. 5. My theme, then, is Health-the Health of Wives-and the object I shall constantly have in view will be the best means both of preserving it and of restoring it when lost. By making a wife strong, she will not only, in the majority of cases, be made fruitful but capable of bringing healthy children into the world. This latter inducement is of great importance; for puny children are not only an anxiety to their parents, but a misery to themselves, and a trouble to all around! Besides, it is the children of England that are to be her future men and women-her glory and her greatness! How desirable it is, then, that her children should be hardy and strong! 6. A wife may be likened to a fruit-tree, a child to its fruit. We all know that it is as impossible to have fine fruit from an unhealthy tree as to have a fine child from an unhealthy mother. In the one case, the tree either does not bear fruit at all-is barren-or it bears undersized, tasteless fruit-fruit which often either immaturely drops from the tree,* or, if plucked from the tree, is useless; in the other case, the wife either does not bear children-she is bar "The weakest kind of fruit Drops earliest to the ground."-Shakespeare. ren-or she has frequent miscarriages-" untimely fruit "or she bears puny, sickly children, who often either drop into an early grave, or, if they live, probably drag out a miserable existence. You may as well expect "to gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles," as healthy children from unhealthy parents! Unhealthy parents, then, as a matter of course have unhealthy children; this is as truly the case as the night follows the day, and should deter both man and woman so circumstanced from marrying. There are numerous other complaints besides scrofula and insanity inherited and propagated by parents. It is a fearful responsibility, both to men and women, if they be, not healthy, to marry. The result must, as a matter of course, be misery! How many a poor unfortunate child may, with anguish of soul, truly exclaim, "Be hold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my mother conceived me."-The Psalms. 7. If a wife is to be healthy and strong, she must use the means -she must sow the seeds of health before she can reap a full harvest of health; health will not come by merely wishing for it. The means are not always at first pleasant; but, like many other things, habit makes them so. Early rising, for instance, is not agreeable to the lazy, and to one fond of her bed; but it is essentially necessary to sound health, and is in the end a pleasure. Exercise is troublesome to the indolent; but no woman can be really strong without it, and exercise becomes after a time, a pastime. Thorough ablution of the whole body is distasteful to one not accustomed to much, washing-to one labouring under a kind of hydrophobia; but there is no perfect health without the daily cleansing of the whole skin, and thorough ablution becomes after a short period, a luxury. But all these processes entail trouble. True; is anything in this world to be done without trouble? and is not the acquisition of precious health worth trouble? Yes, it is worth more than all our other acquisitions put together! Life without health is a burden; life with health is a joy and gladness! Up, then, and arouse yourself, and be doing; for life is no child's play— "Life is real life is earnest."-Longfellow. ear not, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage." time is to be lost if you wish to be well, to be a mother, and to be a mother of healthy children. The misfortune of it is, many ladies are more than half-asleep, and are not aroused to danger until danger stares them in the face; when danger does show itself, they are like a startled hare -full of fears; they are not cognisant of ill-health slowly creeping upon them, until, in too many cases, the time is gone by for relief, and ill-health has become confirmed-has become a part and parcel of themselves; they do not lock the stable until the steed be stolen; they do not use the means until the means are of no avail "A sacred burden is this life ye bear, F. A. Kemble. 8. Idleness is the mother of many diseases; she breeds them, feeds them, and fosters them, and is, moreover, a great enemy to fecundity. Idleness makes people miserable. I have heard a young girl-surrounded with every luxurybemoan her lot, and complain that she was most unhappy in consequence of not having anything to do, and who wished that she had been a servant, so that she might have been obliged to work for her living. Idleness is certainly the hardest work in the world. "Woe to the idle! Woe to the lonely! Woe to the dull! Woe to the quiet little paradise, to the sweet unvaried tenor, to the monotonous round of routine that creates no cares, that inflicts no pangs, and that defies even disappointment."-The Times. 9. It frequently happens that a lady, surrounded with every luxury and every comfort, drags out a miserable existence; she cannot say that she ever, even for a single day, really feels well and strong. This is not to live "For life is not to live, but to be well."-Martial. 10. The life of such an one is wearisome in the extreme; she carries about her a load, grievous to be borne, and, although all around her and about her might be bright and cheerful, a dark cloud of despondency o'ershadows her, and she becomes as helpless and "As weak as wailing infancy."-Crabbe. 11. If a person be in perfect health, the very act of living is itself true happiness and thorough enjoyment, the greatest this world can ever bestow. How needful it there fore is that all necessary instruction should be imparted to every Young Wife, and that proper means should, in every way, be used to ensure health! 12. The judicious spending of the first year of married |