Trifles, light as air
Are to the jealous confirmations strong,
As proofs of holy writ.--SHAKESPEARE.
Nor Jealousy
Was understood, the injur'd lover's hell.--MILTON
O, beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.--SHAKESPEARE.
1. DEFINITION.--Jealousy is an accidental passion, for which the
faculty indeed is unborn. In its nobler form and in its nobler motives
it arises from love, and in its lower form it arises from the deepest
and darkest Pit of Satan.
2. HOW DEVELOPED.--Jealousy arises either from weakness, which from a
sense of its own want of lovable qualities is not convinced of being
sure of its cause, or from distrust, which thinks the beloved person
capable of infidelity. Sometimes all these motives may act together.
3. NOBLEST JEALOUSY.--The noblest jealousy, if the term noble is
appropriate, is a sort of ambition or pride of the loving person who
feels it is an insult that another one should assume it as possible to
supplant his love, or it is the highest degree of devotion which sees
a declaration of its object in the foreign invasion, as it were, of
his own altar. Jealousy is always a sign that a little more wisdom
might adorn the individual without harm.
4. THE LOWEST JEALOUSY.--The lowest species of jealousy is a sort of
avarice of envy which, without being capable of love, at least wishes
to possess the object of its jealousy alone by the one party assuming
a sort of property right over the other. This jealousy, which might
be called the Satanic, is generally to be found with old withered
"husbands," whom the devil has prompted to marry young women and who
forthwith dream night and day of cuck-old's horns. These Argus-eyed
keepers are no longer capable of any feeling that could be called
love, they are rather as a rule heartless house-tyrants, and are in
constant dread that some one may admire or appreciate his unfortunate
slave.
5. WANT OF LORE.--The general conclusion will be that jealousy is more
the result of wrong conditions which cause uncongenial unions, and
which through moral corruption artificially create distrust than a
necessary accompaniment of love.
[Illustration: SEEKING THE LIFE OF A RIVAL.]
6. RESULT OF POOR OPINION.--Jealousy is a passion with which those are
most afflicted who are the least worthy of love. An innocent maiden
who enters marriage will not dream of getting jealous; but all her
innocence cannot secure her against the jealousy of her husband if he
has been a libertine. Those are wont to be the most jealous who have
the consciousness that they themselves are most deserving of jealousy.
Most men in consequence of their present education and corruption have
so poor an opinion not only of the male, but even of the female sex,
that they believe every woman at every moment capable of what they
themselves have looked for among all and have found among the most
unfortunate, the prostitutes. No libertine can believe in the purity
of woman; it is contrary to nature. A libertine therefore cannot
believe in the loyalty of a faithful wife.
7. WHEN JUSTIFIABLE.--There may be occasions where jealousy is
justifiable. If a woman's confidence has been shaken in her husband,
or a husband's confidence has been shaken in his wife by certain signs
or conduct, which have no other meaning but that of infidelity, then
there is just cause for jealousy. There must, however, be certain
proof as evidence of the wife's or husband's immoral conduct.
Imaginations or any foolish absurdities should have no consideration
whatever, and let everyone have confidence until his or her faith has
been shaken by the revelation of absolute facts.
8. CAUTION AND ADVICE.--No couple should allow their associations
to develop into an engagement and marriage if either one has any
inclination to jealousy. It shows invariably a want of sufficient
confidence, and that want of confidence, instead of being diminished
after marriage, is liable to increase, until by the aid of the
imagination and wrong interpretation the home is made a hell and
divorce a necessity. Let it be remembered, there can be no true love
without perfect and absolute confidence, jealousy is always the sign
of weakness or madness. Avoid a jealous disposition, for it is an open
acknowledgment of a lack of faith.
[Illustration]
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