Chapter VI - Marriage
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wedlock gives pinions to joy, or trails its drooping wings
wedlock gives pinions to joy, or trails its drooping wings
in dust. Notes are illy arranged that produce discord;
tones of mind may be different, but they should be con-
cordant, to blend harmoniously. Unselfish ambition,
nobler motives for existence, increased harmony, hap-
piness and usefulness, because the different elements
of mind meet and mingle, finding in union there is
strength – is the true marriage. Let there be moral
freedom in wedlock; never contract the limit of worthy
deeds by a selfish exaction of all one's time and thoughts.
With additional joys, benevolence should grow more
diffusive, for the narrowness and jealousy that would
confine a wife or husband forever at home, will not
promote the sweet interchange of confidence that comes
of love; while a wandering desire for incessant amuse-
ment outside the home circle is a poor augury for hap-
piness. Home is the dearest spot on earth, and should
be the center, but not the boundary of the affec-
tions. Said the peasant bride to her lover, "Two eat
no more together than when they are separate," and
this should furnish the hint, that a wife ought not to
enter into vulgar extravagance, or stupid ease, because
another supplies her wants. Wealth may obviate the
necessity for toil or ill nature in the marriage relation,
but nothing can shirk its cares. "She that is married
careth for her husband, how she may please him," and
this is the very thing it is pleasant to do. Matrimony
should be entered into with a full recognition of its en-
during obligations, and the most tender solicitude for
each other's happiness and approbation should wait on
all its years. Mutual compromises preserve a compact
that might otherwise become burdensome. Man should
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not be required to participate in all the annoyances and
not be required to participate in all the annoyances and
cares of domestic economy, or woman to understand
political economy; but fulfilling the different demands
of separate spheres, their sympathies may blend to com-
fort, cheer and sustain each other, thus hallowing the
copartnership of interests and affection whereon the
heart leans and is at peace. Tender words, and un-
selfish care for what promotes the respect and happiness
of thy wife, is more salutary in prolonging her smiles
and health, than stolid indifference, or jealousy; hus-
bands, hear this, and remember how slight a thing might
have spared the old trysting times. It is too late after
marriage to grumble over disparities of dispositions; a
mutual understanding should exist before, and con-
tinue ever after this union. Deception is fatal to hap-
piness. The nuptial vow is never annulled so long as
its moral obligations are preserved, but the frequency
of divorce shows the sacredness of this relation losing
its puritanical character, and that some fatal mistake
is undermining its true basis. A separation takes
place when the motives for marriage are not suited
to individual progress and happiness. The science of
being inevitably lifts us higher in the scale of harmony,
and will ultimately shake off all shackles that fetter the
mind, ripe for advancement. Therefore, to avoid a dis-
ruption in the marriage relation, mutual tastes, joys,
and aspirations are necessary to form a happy compan-
ionship. The beautiful, is the good in character, that
clasps the indissoluble links of affection.
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A mother's affection cannot be separated from her
A mother's affection cannot be separated from her
child, embracing as it does, purity and Truth, both
of which are immortal, therefore it lives on under all