husband degrade the wife? Surely not. Does the election of one man to the Presidency of the United States, degrade all the rest of the citizens of this Republic, or deprive them of any of their privileges? This will not be pretended. Neither does the station which the husband occupies as the head of the family, degrade the wife, or take from her any right to which she is justly entitled. In both cases, the elevation of one individual is for the mutual benefit of all parties, and is calculated to produce a greater amount of good than could be procured by any other state of things, It is absolutely necessary that differences of station should exist in every community, for the welfare of all the members. If all were kings, or governors, or magistrates, how could that concert and harmony be secured, upon which depend so many enjoyments?

The Apostle, with his usual pertinence, shows the necessity of these distinctions." The body is not one member, but many....... If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? if the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.' ."* Using the figure of

* 1 Cor. xii. 14, 17-21.

St. Paul, the husband and wife are but parts of

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one body." Yet each have their distinct office and sphere of duty. It is precisely as essential, for the benefit of the common body, that these distinct stations should exist, as that there should be eyes to see, and ears to hear, and feet to walk, in our physical bodies. And equally unnatural and absurd would it be for the wife to insist that she shall occupy the place assigned by nature and reason to the husband, as for all the members of the body to endeavor to be the eye or the ear.

The famous apologue of Menenius Agrippa, as related by Livy, so appropriately illustrates this subject, that I cannot forbear inserting it. The Roman people once rose in rebellion against the nobles, under the pretext, that the great men had all the honors and emoluments, while they were compelled to bear all the burdens and privations. Menenius Agrippa, a brave general, whom the people highly respected, went to the insurgents, who had retired to the Mons Sacre, and restored peace and harmony, by the following ingenious address. "In that time in which the different parts of the human body were not in a state of unity as they now are, but each member had its separate office and distinct language, they all became discontented, because whatever was procured by their care, labor, and industry, was spent on the stomach; while this, lying at ease in the midst of the body, did nothing but enjoy whatever was provided for it. They therefore conspired

among themselves, and agreed that the hands should not convey food to the mouth; that the mouth should not receive what was offered to it; and that the teeth should not masticate whatever was brought to the mouth. Acting on this principle of revenge, and hoping to reduce the stomach by famine, all the members, and the whole body itself, were at length brought into the last stage of a consumption. It then plainly appeared that the stomach itself did no small service; that it contributed not less to their nourishment, than they did to its support; distributing to every part that from which they derived life and vigor."

So evident is the station which the husband should occupy in the family, that every sensible wife is willing to acknowledge it, and to shape her course accordingly. Nay, the woman who respects and loves her husband, would not assume his place, had she perfect power to do so. She realizes that his standing in society depends in no small degree upon his standing in his own family; and she knows, too, that the respectability of the family is intimately blended with the respectability of the husband and father. And hence she is anxious to contribute to that respectability, and is not unwilling to pay him that measure of deference at home, which she is desirous he should receive abroad. How can that woman expect her husband to be honored in community, who domineers over him at home, and assumes in the family the position * T. Livii, Histor. lib. ii., cap. 32.

and prerogatives which pertain naturally and justly to him? Of all men, no one is more entirely the object of ridicule than he who is termed "a henpecked husband!" He receives this ridicule not more heartily from his own sex, than from all women of good sense and discernment. And in the degradation which is thus heaped upon him, his wife, who is the cause of it, must herself share. He is not more ridiculed for his pusillanimity and weakness of mind, than she is despised for that masculine character, station, and habit, which she assumes before the world. "At the time when 'The Book' came out relative to the late ill-treated Queen Caroline, I was talking upon the subject, one day, with a person who had not read the book, but who, as was the fashion with all those who were looking up to the government, condemned the queen unheard. 'Now,' said I, 'be not so shamefully unjust; but get the book, read it, and then give your judgment.'—' Indeed,' said his wife, who was sitting by, but he shan't!' pronouncing the word shan't with an emphasis and voice tremendously masculine. O,' said I, 'if he shan't, that is another matter; but if he shan't read, if he shan't hear the evidence, then he shan't be looked upon by me as a just judge; and I shan't regard him in future as having any opinion of his own in any thing! All which, the husband, the poor henpecked thing, heard without a word escaping his lips. A husband thus under command, is the most contemptible of God's creatures. Nobody

can place reliance upon him, for anything; whether in the capacity of employer or employed, you are never sure of him. No bargain is firm, no engage ment is certain with such a man. In the eyes of neighbors, for friends such a man cannot have, in the eyes of servants, in the eyes of even the beggars at his door, such a man is a mean and despicable creature, though he may roll in wealth, and possess great talents into the bargain!"* If the wife would have society view her husband with the respect which she is desirous that herself and family may maintain, let her first respect him herself at home, and teach her children to look up to him and honor him as their natural and lawful guardian.

Occupying, as the husband does, the important station of head of the family, the serious question arises, how shall he exercise, in respect to his wife, the authority which pertains to that station? This will form the subject of another chapter.

* Cobbett.
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