The law of reaction is of more nearly universal application in moral
and in physical science than men are willing to believe. We have
seen how cunningly Rosa calculated upon it, and wiser people than
she, every day, attribute the most momentous actions of their lives
to its influence.
"My advice to every woman is to marry for GOODNESS--simple
integrity of word and deed!" said a lady, once in my hearing.
She was an excellent scholar, attractive in person and in manner,
gifted in conversation and opulent in purse. Her hand had been
sought in marriage by more than one, and in early womanhood she had
made choice among her suitors of a man whose plausible exterior was
the screen of a black heart and infamous life. Convinced of her
mistake barely in time to escape copartnership in his stained name
and ruined fortunes, she set up the history of her deadly peril as a
beacon to others as ardent and unwary as her old-time self. Either
to put a double point upon the moral, or to insure herself against
similar mishap in the future, she wedded an amiable and correct
fool, a mere incidental in the work of human creation, who was as
incapable of making his mark upon the age that produced him as an
angle-worm is of lettering solid granite.
Mabel's husband was not a simpleton, or characterless; but if he had
been, his prospetts of success would not have been materially
damaged by her knowledge of his deficiencies. A union with him was a
safe investment, and must be several degrees more supportable than
was her position at Ridgeley, banned by its owner and patronized by
his wife. I neither excuse nor blame her for thus deciding and
transacting. Should I censure, a majority of my readers--nearly all
of the masculine portion--would pick holes in my unpractical
philosophy, scout my reasoning as illogical, brand my conclusions as
pernicious--winding up their protest with the sigh of the mazed
disciples, when stunned by the great Teacher's deliverance upon the
subject of divorce, "If the case of the man be so with his wife, it
is not good to marry!"
Which dogma I likewise decline to dispute--falling back thankfully
upon the blessed stronghold of unambitious story-tellers--namely,
that my vocation is to describe what IS--not make fancy-sketches of
millennial days, when rectitude shall be the best, because most
remunerative policy; when sincerity shall be wisdom--proven and
indisputable, and consistency the rule of human faith and practice
the world over, instead of being, as it now is, one of the lost (or
never invented) fine arts.