Life and Literature Part 148

No greater woe Can be, than to remember happy days In misery.

2047

By telling our woes we often a.s.suage them.

--_Danish._

2048

A fas.h.i.+onable woman is always in love--with herself.

2049

A WOMAN'S QUESTION.

Before I trust my fate to thee, Or place my hand in thine, Before I let thy future give Color and form to mine, Before I peril all for thee, Question thy soul to-night for me.

I break all slighter bonds, nor feel A shadow of regret: Is there one link within the past That holds thy spirit yet?

Or is thy faith as clear and free As that which I can pledge to thee?

Does there within thy dimmest dreams A possible future s.h.i.+ne, Wherein thy life could henceforth breathe, Untouched, unshared by mine?

If so, at any pains or cost, Oh, tell me before all is lost.

Look deeper still. If thou canst feel Within thy inmost soul, That thou hast kept a portion back, While I have staked the whole,-- Let no false pity spare the blow, But in true mercy tell me so.

Is there within thy heart a need That mine cannot fulfil?

One cord that any other hand Could better wake or still?

Speak now--lest at some future day My whole life wither and decay.

--_Adelaide Anne Proctor._

2050

A WOMAN'S n.o.bLEST STATION.

Seek to be good, but aim not to be great; A woman's n.o.blest station is retreat: Her fairest virtues fly from public sight; Domestic worth,--that, shuns too strong a light.

2051

Kindness in women, Not their beauteous looks, Shall win my love.

--_Shakespeare._

2052

Alas! I am but woman, fond and weak Without even power my proud, pure love to speak; But oh, by all I fail in, love not me For what I am, but what I wish to be.

2053

Manners, not jewels, are a woman's ornament.

2054

The woman who really wishes to refuse an aspirant to her hand contents herself with saying, No. She who explains, wants to be convinced.

2055

Her voice was ever soft, Gentle and low, an excellent thing in woman.

--_Shakespeare._

2056

In Dr. Johnson's opinion, "a woman was well dressed, when, after seeing her, one could not remember what she had on."

2057

A beautiful woman without fixed principles, may be likened to those fair but rootless flowers which float in streams, driven by every breeze.

2058

Where is the man who has the power and skill To stem the torrent of a woman's will?

For if she will, she will, you may depend on't, And if she won't, she won't, and there's an end on't.

--_Aaron Hill._

2059

A woman possessing nothing but outward advantages, is like a flower without fragrance, a tree without fruit.

2060

The happiest women, like the happiest nations, have no history.

--_George Eliot._