"that the most brutal man cannot live in constant association with a strong female influence, and not be greatly controlled by it." (p.567)
Note 18: If left to himself, he would have whistled like away, in perfect contentment; but his wife kept continually dinning in his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family. Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence.
Source: Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle". Baym, Nina, ed. Norton Anthology of American Literature. W. W. Norton & Company. New York, New York: 1998. (p.939)