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Show 92 self-sacrificing, uncomplaining and cheerful, and one who will bear with pleasure and joy the cares of maternity for the sake of adding to his glory. Woman gives her hand, her heart, her all to her husband, she gives herself. The apex of her hopes is one whom she can love and honor as her head, one who is wise and judicious and is governed, and governs, by the pure principles of the gospel. The true woman desires a husband who loves his religion, his God, better than aught else in the world. Woman's natural disposition is to cling, confide and love. She intuitively relies and depends upon his judgment, desires his support and sustenance in all her undertakings. His approbation and encouragement strengthen and urge her on, giving her comfort, peace and joy in even the most trying experiences of life.6 We do not hear from Ellis again until October 3, four days after her "little Anna...closed her eyes in death's long sleep." She contrasts the baby's "bright spirit" in life with her "cold and motionless" form in death. Her 17-month attachment to this first girl child gives rise to nearly two pages of eulogy which delicately balances a faithful compliance to God's will with genuine sorrow and mourning. It concludes with three stanzas of poetry for "Sweet Anna." Ellis could have made a couplet from her last prose sentence as well. "Wherever I go, whatever I do, I find one dear little face is absent from my view," might have been rendered: "Wherever I go, whatever I do, One dear little face is absent from view." There is a sense of solace in the mere rhythms of poetry. Ellis has not written in her journal since her essay on husbands and wives; but there has been another death in the family. One month prior to Anna's passing, Lizzie's firstborn 8-month-old son, John has slipped away. Ellis makes no mention of this fact, but we may observe that the "seven long weeks" of constantly watching over |
