s all that she has power to raise; then darting at you
a leaden glance, she says in a voice of remarkable feebleness:

"Oh! What can be the matter with me? I suffer the agonies of death! And
this is all the comfort you give me! Ah! you men, it is plainly seen
that nature has not given you the task of bringing children into the
world. What egoists and tyrants you are! You take us in all the beauty
of our youth, fresh, rosy, with tapering waist, and then all is well!
When your pleasures have ruined the blooming gifts which we received
from nature, you never forgive us for having forfeited them to you! That
was all understood. You will allow us to have neither the virtues nor
the sufferings of our condition. You must needs have children, and we
pass many nights in taking care of them. But child-bearing has ruined
our health, and left behind the germs of serious maladies.--Oh, what
pain I suffer! There are few women who are not subject to headaches; but
your wife must be an exception. You even laugh at our sufferings; that
is generosity!--please don't walk about--I should not have expected this
of you!--Stop the clock; the click of the pendulum rings in my head.
Thanks! Oh, what an unfortunate creature I am! Have you a scent-bottle
with you? Yes, oh! for pity's sake, allow me to suffer in peace, and go
away; for this scent splits my head!"

What can you say in reply? Do you not hear within you a voice which
cries, "And what if she is actually suffering?" Moreover, almost all
husbands evacuate the field of battle very quietly, while their wives
watch them from the corner of their eyes, marching off on tip-toe and
closing the door quietly on the chamber henceforth to be considered
sacred by them.

Such is the headache, true or false, which is patronized at your home.
Then the headache begins to play a regular role in the bosom of
your family. It is a theme on which a woman can play many admirable
variations. She sets it forth in every key. With the aid of the headache
alone a wife can make a husband desperate. A headache seizes madame when
she chooses, where she chooses, and as much as she chooses. There
are headaches of five days, of ten minutes, periodic or intermittent
headaches.

You sometimes find your wife in bed, in pain, helpless, and the blinds
of her room are closed. The headache has imposed silence on every one,
from the regions of the porter's lodge, where he is cutting wood, even
to the garret of your groom,