Evergreens | Page 4

look altogether somewhat dowdy and
commonplace. We almost hope they will not see us when we meet

them just outside the club. They are not the sort of people we want to
ostentatiously greet in crowded places. It is not till the days of our need
that we learn to love and know them. It is not till the winter that the
birds see the wisdom of building their nests in the evergreen trees.
And we, in our spring-time folly of youth, pass them by with a sneer,
the uninteresting, colorless evergreens, and, like silly children with
nothing but eyes in their heads, stretch out our hands and cry for the
pretty flowers. We will make our little garden of life such a charming,
fairy-like spot, the envy of every passer-by! There shall nothing grow
in it but lilies and roses, and the cottage we will cover all over with
Virginia-creeper. And, oh, how sweet it will look, under the dancing
summer sun-light, when the soft west breeze is blowing!
And, oh, how we shall stand and shiver there when the rain and the east
wind come!
Oh, you foolish, foolish little maidens, with your dainty heads so full of
unwisdom! how often--oh! how often, are you to be warned that it is
not always the sweetest thing in lovers that is the best material to make
a good-wearing husband out of? "The lover sighing like a furnace" will
not go on sighing like a furnace forever. That furnace will go out. He
will become the husband, "full of strange oaths--jealous in honor,
sudden and quick in quarrel," and grow "into the lean and slipper'd
pantaloon." How will he wear? There will be no changing him if he
does not suit, no sending him back to be altered, no having him let out
a bit where he is too tight and hurts you, no having him taken in where
he is too loose, no laying him by when the cold comes, to wrap yourself
up in something warmer. As he is when you select him, so he will have
to last you all your life--through all changes, through all seasons.
Yes, he looks very pretty now--handsome pattern, if the colors are fast
and it does not fade--feels soft and warm to the touch. How will he
stand the world's rough weather? How will he stand life's wear and
tear?
He looks so manly and brave. His hair curls so divinely. He dresses so
well (I wonder if the tailor's bill is paid?) He kisses your hand so
gracefully. He calls you such pretty names. His arm feels so strong a
round you. His fine eyes are so full of tenderness as they gaze down
into yours.
Will he kiss your hand when it is wrinkled and old? Will he call you

pretty names when the baby is crying in the night, and you cannot keep
it quiet--or, better still, will he sit up and take a turn with it? Will his
arm be strong around you in the days of trouble? Will his eyes shine
above you full of tenderness when yours are growing dim?
And you boys, you silly boys! what materials for a wife do you think
you will get out of the empty-headed coquettes you are raving and
tearing your hair about. Oh! yes, she is very handsome, and she dresses
with exquisite taste (the result of devoting the whole of her heart, mind
and soul to the subject, and never allowing her thoughts to be distracted
from it by any other mundane or celestial object whatsoever); and she
is very agreeable and entertaining and fascinating; and she will go on
looking handsome, and dressing exquisitely, and being agreeable and
entertaining and fascinating just as much after you have married her as
before--more so, if anything.
But you will not get the benefit of it. Husbands will be charmed and
fascinated by her in plenty, but you will not be among them. You will
run the show, you will pay all the expenses, do all the work. Your
performing lady will be most affable and enchanting to the crowd.
They will stare at her, and admire her, and talk to her, and flirt with her.
And you will be able to feel that you are quite a benefactor to your
fellow-men and women--to your fellow-men especially--in providing
such delightful amusement for them, free. But you will not get any of
the fun yourself.
You will not get the handsome looks. You will get the jaded face, and
the dull, lusterless eyes, and the untidy hair with the dye showing on it.
You will not get the exquisite dresses. You will get dirty, shabby frocks
and slommicking dressing-gowns, such as your cook would be
ashamed to wear. You will not