406 DIARY OF JASON LEE
qualify me to woo a beautiful, wise and lovely daughter of Eve, and ultimately call her my own. In early life, I admitted the full force of the assertions of holy writ, that "it is not good for man to be alone/' and was fully satisfied that the man who was destitute of a helpmate, to whom he could give, heart and hand, and who would, without reserve, reciprocate his affections, was wanting what was better calculated to smooth the ragged path of life, lessen its ills and increase its pleas- ures, than anything els[e] of an earthly nature, that this world, with all its pomp and show, can possibly afford; and for which, man with all his diligence and assiduity can never find a substitute. With these truths deeply engraven on my heart, I grew up from youth to manhood ; my imagination often adverting to the conjugal felicity that I fondly anticipated would at no very distant period be all my own. I always de- spised domestic brawling, and felt especially indignant at that man who could tyranize over an innocent, lovely and defence- less female, and could scarcely avoid looking with detestation upon that woman who was ever grasping after the authority of the husband, and then always seeking to exhibit her prowess, in browbeating him on all occasions. I have generally been disposed to fix the heaviest censure upon the man, for all the domestic broils and disorder that occur in ordinary cases, believing it to be in his power to introduce and maintain a system that will in most cases secure harmony, order and peace in the family circle. But I am now fully convinced that it is a rare thing under the sun to see peace and harmony existing under that roof, where the all-transforming influences of the gospel of peace do not prevail. Such is the ignorance of human kind, that the wisest are liable to err at every turn ; hence many will most honestly differ in opinion, with their best friends, and each, it may be, with equal sincerity, maintain opposite sides of the same question, utterly astonished that the other does not yield the point, and not being able to comprehend how another can see things so differently from himself ; and being actuated by the principle of pride, which is always prompting us to
