ings his wrists at her, and
shows his condition. The woman turns upon him her wainscot face and
promises amendment. The thing shall never happen again. Think you
the next shirt has its just and lawful number of buttons? Devil a
bit!'"

In "The Bright Poker," he seems to pay a compliment under a guise of
sarcasm:--

"And here my dear child, let me advise you to avoid by all means
what is called a clean wife. You will be made to endure the extreme
of misery under the base, the inviduous pretext of being rendered
comfortable. Your house will be an ark tossed by continual floods.
You will never know what it is to properly accommodate your
shoulders to a shirt, so brief will be its visit to your back ere
it again go to the washtub. And then for spiders, fleas, and other
household insects, sent especially into our homesteads to awaken
the enquiring spirit of man, to at once humble his individual pride
by the contemplation of their sagacity, and to elevate him by the
frequent evidence of the marvels of animal life--all these calls
upon our higher faculties will be wanting, and lacking them your
immortal part will be dizzied, stunned by the monotony of the
scrubbing-brush, and poisoned past the remedy of perfume by yellow
soap. Your wife and children, too, will have their faces
continually shining like the holiday saucers on the mantel-piece.
Now consider the conceit, the worse than arrogance of this; the
studied callous forgetfulness of the beginning of man. Did he not
spring from the earth?--from clay--dirt--mould--mud--garden soil,
or composition of some sort, for theological geology (you must look
in the dictionary for these words) has not precisely defined what;
and is it not the basest impudence of pride to seek to wash and
scrub and rub away the original spot? Is he not the most natural
man who in vulgar meaning is the dirtiest? Depend upon it, there is
a fine natural religion in dirt; and yet we see men and women
strive to appear as if they were compounded of the roses and lilies
in Paradise instead of the fine rich loam, that feeds their roots.
Be assured of it, there is great piety in what the ignorant
foolishly call filth. Take some of the Saints for an example--off
with their coats, and away with their hair shirts; and even then,
my son, so i