Again, I charge you never talk to others about the frailties of your
husband.[1] Some people have a way, in banter, of elaborately
describing to others the shortcomings or unhappy eccentricities of a
husband or wife. Ah, the world will find out soon enough all the
defects of your companion! No need of your advertising them! Better
imitate those women who, having made mistake in affiance, always have
a veil to hide imperfections and alleviations of conduct to mention.
We must admit that there are rare cases where a wife cannot live
longer with her husband, and his cruelties and outrages are the
precursor of divorcement or separation. But until that day comes, keep
the awful secret to yourself--keep it from every being in the universe
except the God to whom you do well to tell your trouble. Trouble only
a few years at most, and then you can go up on the other side of the
grave, and say: "O Lord, I kept the marital secret! Thou knowest how
well I kept it, and I thank Thee that the release has come at last.
Give me some place where I can sit down and rest awhile from the
horrors of an embruted earthly alliance, before I begin the full
raptures of heaven." And orders will be sent out to the usher angels,
saying: "Take this Abigail right up to the softest seat in the best
room of the palace, and let twenty of the brightest angels wait on her
for the next thousand years."