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Auckland Chronicle and New Zealand Colonist, Volume 2, Issue 72, 19 December 1844, Page 4

Concealment Between Husband and Wife. —The first and most innocent step, says Mrs. Ellis, towards falsehood, is concealment. Before our common acquaintances there is wisdom in practising concealment to a considerable extent : but where the intimacy is so great, the identity so close, as between a husband and a wife, concealment becomes a sort of bleach o! faith ; and with par ies thus situated, the very act of concealment can only be lcej t »P, by a series of artful endeavours to ward off suspicion, or observation of the thing concealed. Now, when a husband discovers, as in all probability he will, unless these endeavours are carried out to a very great extent —when he discovers that his wife has been concealing one thing from him, he very naturally supposes that she has concealed many more; and his suspicions will be awakened in proportion. It will then be in vain to assure him that your motive was good, that what you did was only to spare him pain, or afford hint pleasure; he will feel that the very act is one which has set him apart in his own house as a stranger, rather than a guardian there—an enemy, rather than a friend. Why then, should you begin with concealment? The answer, it is to be feared, is but too familiar—“ My husband is so unreasonable.” And here then we see again the great advantage of everything you think or do. After concealment has been habitually practised, there follows, in order to escape detection, a system of false pretences, assumed appearances, and secret schemes, as much at variance with the spirit of truth, as the most direct falsehood, and unquestionably as debasing to the mind ; but, as an almost inevitable consequence, next following falsehood itself: for what woman would like her husband and know that she had, for days, months, or years, been practising upon his credulity. If he discovers that she has been concealing, he will also discover, that often when the subject was alluded to, she artfully evaded his question by introducing another, that sometimes she so managed her voice as to convey one idea whilst she expressed another ; and that at other times she absolutely looked a lie. No, she cannot bear that he should look back and see all this, lest he should despise her, and therefore, in some critical moment, when brought into that trying situation in which she must either confess all or deny, and she pronounces at last that fatal word which effectually breaks assunder the spiritual bond of love. And now it is scarcely possible to imagines more, melancholy situation than that of a

weak and helpless woman, separated by - falsehood from all true fellowship either human or divine ; for there is no fellowship in falsehood. The very soil of disunion might justly be said to be embodied in a lie. It is in fact the sudden breaking asunder of that great chain which binda together all spiritual influences ; and she who is guilty of falsehood must necessarily be alone.