tened but did not remove the grief of
Alfred Wentworth. The love he bore his wife may be likened to the love
of the eagle for liberty. Cage it, and the noble bird pines away; no
longer allowed to soar on high, but fettered by man, it sickens and
dies, nor can it be tamed sufficiently to become satisfied with the
wires of a cage. So it was with the soldier. His love for his wife was
of so deep and fathomless a nature, that the knowledge of her being a
maniac, and only returning to reason to die, changed the current of
his nature, and from being a friendly and communicative man, he became
a silent and morose being. The world had lost its charms, and the
blank left in his heart, the sear upon his mind, the agony at knowing
that his wife--his pure and peerless wife, had been compelled from her
necessities to take that which was not her own, could never be filled,
never be healed and never be eased.

A wife! We know not from experience what it means, but there is a
something, an inward voice, which tells, us that a wife is the holiest
gift of God to man. A wife! what is it? A woman to cherish and
protect, to give the heart's affection to, and to receive all the
confiding love with which her bosom is filled. The partner of your
happiness--the source of all that makes man good and binds him to
earth; the solace of woes, the sharer of joys--the gentle nurse in
sickness, and the fond companion in health. Oh! there is a something
in the name, which thrills the heart, and makes it beat with emotion
at the sound of the word. Amid the cares and pleasures of man, there
can be no higher, no worthier desire than to share his triumphs with a
wife. When Ambition tempts him to mount yet higher in this earthly
life, and take his stand among the exalted men of genius, who so
fitting to be the partner of his fame as the gentle woman of this
world, and when disappointed in his aspirations, when the cold frowns
of a callous world drive him from the haunts of men, who so soothing
as a Wife? She will smoothen the wrinkles on his forehead, and by
words of loving cheer inspire him with courage and bid him brave the
censure and mocking of the world, and strive again to reach the summit
of his desires. A Wife! There is no word that appeals with greater
force to the heart than this. From the moment the lover becomes the
Wife, her life becomes a fountain of happiness to a husband, which
gushes out and runs down the path of Time, never to cease, until