Godey's Lady's Book - Fiction
Author: T.S. Arthur
Title: A Nervous Wife, and How She Was Cured
Date: May 1857
Volume/Page: v54 p409
Synopsis:
Visiting his friends, Mr. And Mrs. Wilkins, ten years after their promising marriage, the author finds them much altered. Repeated child bearing, the loss of two children, and financial hardship have completely undermined Mary Wilkin's health. Mr. Wilkins
contributes to her decline by being less and less supportive and more and more concerned about money. The author presses for a change of air, periodic outings and social engagements. They follow his "prescription" and a year later are healthy and happy.<
P>
Arthur says: "Husbands, I fear, are not thoughtful enough about their wives in this particular. . .Try the prescription, ye men with sickly, toiling, exhausted wives, whose pale faces haunt your homes like ghosts of former blessings."
Written and copyright by Hope Greenberg. 11/24/95.