Matrimony, or, Phrenology and physiology applied to the selection of congenial companions for life : including directions to the married for living affectionately and happily / by O.S. Fowler.

  • Fowler, O. S. (Orson Squire), 1809-1887.
Date:
1880
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Matrimony, or, Phrenology and physiology applied to the selection of congenial companions for life : including directions to the married for living affectionately and happily / by O.S. Fowler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    that their children excel those of most others, of which the majority of parents are guilty % The family affords Conscientiousness ample scope for delightful exercise in dealing out even-handed justice to all, and in implanting in the tender minds of their children lessons of duty and the princi¬ ples of right; while Hope feasts itself upon th© promises their expanding intellects afford of dawning talents, virtue, and honour— transporting parental love in view of the brightening prospects of their coming prosperity, as well as of the enjoyments yet to be realised in the family circle. To him who delights in prayer and praise to God, the exercise of Veneration may yield a rich harvest of pure and exalted pleasure; but it is when offering the morning and evening sacrifice of prayer and thanksgiving around the family altar—when praying with the family for blessings upon the family—that this faculty is kindled up to its most devout and fervent action ; melting the heart, purifying the soul, and reforming the conduct. How much more gratifying to go to the church or chapel in company than alone ! This increase of pleasure has its origin in the combination of Veneration and these Social Faculties. Marvellousness, also, delights to commit and commend those objects of affection to the merciful protection and gracious guidance of an all-wise and over-ruling Providence. Though the exercise of Benevolence towards strangers, or even brutes, gives a great amount of real pleasure, yet we feel double gratification in conferring favours upon those we love. The family presents many an opportunity for doing little acts of kindness, where the world at large affords one. Indeed, it enables us to be doing and receiving an almost continual succession of kind offices, perhaps trifling in themselves, but great in their aggregate, and highly pro¬ motive of reciprocal good feeling. Children can gratify Imitation by taking pattern from their beloved and venerated parents ; while the wife can indulge her Ideality and Order in keeping the house and children neat, tidy, and clean, and in cultivating vines, flowers, &cA The family also affords the wife an admirable opportunity to exercise Jher Constructiveness—which is called into action in nearly everything done with the hands—in making and repairing garments and con¬ veniences for those she loves, and at the same time to endear herself to her husband by gratifying his Acquisitiveness, in saving many a tailor’s bill, &c.; while he will find his Constructiveness agreeably exer¬ cised in fixing up things, and making conveniences about the house, repairing a door, inserting a broken glass, &c., as well as in the daily labour of his hands in their support. With all the freedom allowed in the family circle, Mirthfulness can let fly its sprightly jokes, its agreeable sallies of wit, and its tart repartees, without the least fear of giving offence, or any of that studied guardedness or artificial precision required among others. The Lan¬ guage and Eventuality of parents and grandparents find frequent and delightful exercise in recounting to their young and eager listeners the incidents of bygone days, and the history and genealogy of their ancestors, and in telling or reading to them stories calculated to strengthen their memories and improve their morals ; while the chil¬ dren, in return, also indulge their Language in their incessant prattle. It is in the family circle, also, that Tune can exert its powerful -w Every good wife will gladly improve every opportunity to adorn her house, especially with natural charms, and render it as pleasant and agree¬ able as possible. This seems to be one important and leading duty, or rather pleasure, of a wife and mother; and yet that one is too much neglected. Let every wife have her flower garden, her arbour, her plants, and shrubbery, and by throwing those little charms and niceties aroimd ‘ ‘ home ” which the hand and the taste of woman alone can impart, give to it a peculiar and pleasant attraction. But more on this point elsewhere.