Help them in kindly, patient acts,
Without a word of grudging scorn.
If for her servant asks a dame,
Just carry out the word for him;
And if he's not within your call,
Then go yourself and wait her words.
To seniors always yield your place,
And honor all whose rank is known;
Help them to bear their ills and griefs,
But do not fret them with your freaks;
Serve great and small with equal zeal,
And always let your will give way.
If lord or lady ask your help,
First with your husband counsel take,
For he to you must heaven be,
One whom you may not disesteem;—
For if this heaven should once fall down,
Where then, in sooth, would be your lot?
Mind, scold not those whose help you seek,
Nor wasteful, aye, or cruel be.
A man who fears his wife's harsh tongue,
And she who makes her goodman shamed,
Are things at which mon laugh and jeer.
A wayward spouse, with aims depraved,
Can oft be urged to mend his way
By earnest words and constant talk,
And quickened thus to higher life:
Show him th' attention owed a guest,
And mutual faith due to a friend;
For wanton sports and cruel tricks,
Alike disgrace both man and wife.
If no male heir to you be given, Beseech your lord to take a maid; And if she have a mother's joy, You, too, will not be desolate.
The concubines brought to the house,
Must straight be taught to keep the peace;
For neighbors, hearing all their broils,
Will laugh and hold you up to scorn;
The more they scold the more they will,
And clamor leads to discontent.
Be chaste and kind in ev'ry act,
And all will praise your gentle name.
Let father's brothers, old and young, Sisters-in-law of every name,
Each and all be daily served.
Lest in your woe you plead in vain ;
One hundred years your age may reach,
And to the last they'll seek your face.
In thousand and ten thousand cares,
In patience still your poise maintain.
A household constant in its plans
Can't well be governed by two wills;
A seeming love, with strife within,
Will soon destroy your health and fame.
No cause for sneers from slanderous tongues,
When household cares the mother bears,
And thrifty husband works abroad.
Words that are not both pure and true,
Degrade all dames who prize their fame;
While she who gently leads the base,
Proves by her lips her princely mind.
Who with quick wit detects the facts,
And clearly severs this from that;
She never needs to change her tongue,
Nor mend her speech by other lies;
For enemies, who're thus aroused,
Bring reddening shame and deep remorse.
Vile books should never meet your eye,
Nor filthy words defile your ear;
Ne'er look on men of utterance gross,
Nor tread the ground which they pollute.
Keep back the heart from thoughts impure,
Nor let your hands grow fond of sloth;
Then no o'ersight or call deferred
Will, when you're pressed, demand your time.
In all your care of tender babes,
Mind lest they're fed or warmed too much;
The childish liberty first granted
Must soon be checked by rule and rein;
Guard them from water, fire, and tools:
Mind lest they're hurt or maimed by falls.
All flesh and fruits when ill with colds
Are noxious drugs to tender bairns-
Who need a careful oversight,
Yet want some license in their play.
Be strict in all you bid them do,
For this will guard from ill and woe.
With neighbors and with kindred dear,
Let loving concord be the rule;
Show kindly thoughts and warm regards,
With timely gifts from your full store.
Cheer others' progress with your praise,
Nor make their failings known abroad;
And when they try to bring you round,
Just hear their words but argue not.
To those who 're under your commands,
Weary and sad, hungry or cold,
Speak gently still, and help them too;
In every work let mercy sway.
Beldames and strolling gipseys loud,
Should never come within your doors;
They lead you on to do what's wrong,
And tempt men's hearts to brawls and strifes.
Whatever 's said within your rooms,
Should always be with care discussed;
Lest hangers-on should pass it round,
To cause a jeer or breed a grudge.
Your gates and doors should not swing wide,
Nor trunks and bureaus stay unlocked;
Both day and night with constant care,
Beware of thieves, beware of fire.
Lay up good works in liberal store,
But do not seek to hoard your wealth;
For if your child and grandchild thrive,
The money spent will all come back.
To gossip much and gad about
Is like to bring regret and woe;
To feign you're dumb, or ape the deaf,
Is one device to get away.
Learn well your station to fulfill,
And this will check all angry pride.
E'en heaven itself is not quite round,
And earth too needs its gaps filled in.
The three accords and virtues four,
Should always be a wife's concern;
If she give cause to be divorced,
She's still disgraced without a bill.*
The virtues which adorn a wife,
Are winning mildness, strict reserve,
A prudent care, a loving heart,
And when grown old, a sober mien.
The vices which disgrace a wife,
Are hatred, laziness, and lust,
A jealous heart, a gourmand's taste,
And lack of modesty and shame.
An honest and affectionate,
Chaste and filial wife and daughter,
Are honored still from age to age;
But wanton and defiant girls,
Their one life passed, are soon forgot.
*Note in the text. "To be childless, or have an incurable disease (like leprosy), is no disgrace or fault." The san tsung or three accords, are those of a daughter to her father, a wife to her husband, a widow to her son. The sz' teh, or four virtues, are purity, conversation, deportment and skill.
When a wife loves her ease, and thinks chiefly of eating,
Her husband will starve and her children may freeze;
When her voice is too loud, and her tongue is too long,
Then they go to the bad, and the house is destroyed.
When her cries fill the lanes and ring through the wynds,
The neighbors despise her, and call her an imp;
Her goodman they ask why his girls act so vilely,
And refuse to believe what she says in excuse.
O woman, alas! who with you wants to chide,
Since you never agree with what people say?
Then try to amend, whenever you're wrong.
When parents or husband shall bid you obey,
No longer disdain their just wishes to meet,
For your life or your death still rest in their hands.
What good will it do, with your o'erweening pride
And obstinate will, to have your own way?
Girls of culture and polish no low clans produce,
Their young and pretty ranks will brook no hoyden's place;
When the wife of first rank loves the next "little wives,"
Her name is well known, the world gives her praise;
When stepmothers' hearts yearn for all the old sons,
The country soon knows who they are and their homes.
The bride learns too soon of the task that's before her:-
Such patience and tact, such skill and composure,
Such wisdom to join the stern with the gentle;
But if she succeed her reward will be great,
For long as she lives the household reveres her.
ARTICLE IV. THE DOCTRINE OF EXTINCTION.
Conditional Immortality: Plain Sermons on a topic of Present Interest. By WILLIAM R. HUNTINGTON, D.D., Rector of All Saints Church, Worcester. New York: E. P. Dutton
CONDITIONAL Immortality is the new and euphonious name given to that which was formerly known and set forth as the doctrine of the Annihilation of the Wicked. Its advocates now discard the term "annihilation" as "distasteful, not because of the complete reduction to nothingness which the word expresses, but because it seems to point to an arbitrary infliction, a decree suddenly executed upon the offender from without."* The substitute for this word which they now almost uniformly employ is "extinction," qualified sometimes as "final extinction," or "the extinction of being." Not wishing therefore to present their views under any designation that shall seem to be uncourteous or "distasteful," we shall, in the present Article, use this latter word rather than annihilation.
The doctrine named has passed, during the last forty years, through many different phases; and at the present time, it can not be said to have found expression, except in the most compre
bensive form, in any statement which would be generally acceptable to its advocates. In this country, as we are informed, the greater number of those who accept it consists of blank materialists, represented by such authors as Jacob Blain (Death and Life), George Storrs (Six Sermons), and James H. Whitmore (The Doctrine of Immortality). These writers tell us, among other like things, that "man, formed of the dust of the ground, has no superadded entity, called the soul;" that "it cannot be proved that mind is anything more than an attribute of the living organized dust," and that "man, the last and noblest work of creation is (in his whole nature) material. Of immateriality, we know nothing, because it is nothing." These
* Conditional Immortality, p. 126.
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