as if grasped in his own hand.

'He is the happy husband who can go away at a moment's warning, leaving
his house and family with as little anxiety as he quits an inn, no more
fearing to find, on his return, any thing wrong, than he would fear a
discontinuance of the rising and setting of the sun; and if, as in my
case, leaving books and papers all lying about at sixes and sevens,
finding them arranged in proper order, and the room, during the lucky
interval, freed from the effects of his and his ploughman's or
gardener's dirty shoes. Such a man has no _real cares--no troubles_;
and this is the sort of life I have led. I have had all the numerous
and indescribable delights of home and children, and at the same time,
all the bachelor's freedom from domestic cares.

'But in order to possess this precious _trustworthiness_, you must, if
you can, exercise your _reason_ in the choice of your partner. If she
be vain of her person, very fond of dress, fond of _flattery_ at all,
given to gadding about, fond of what are called _parties of pleasure_,
or _coquetish_, though in the least degree,--she will never be
trustworthy; she cannot change her nature; and if you marry her, you
will be unjust, if you expect trustworthiness at her hands. But on the
other hand, if you find in her that innate _sobriety_ of which I have
been speaking, there is required on your part, and that at once, too,
confidence and trust without any limit. Confidence in this case is
nothing, unless it be reciprocal. To have a trustworthy wife, you must
begin by showing her, even before marriage, that you have no
suspicions, fears, or doubts in regard to her. Many a man has been
discarded by a virtuous girl, merely on account of his querulous
conduct. All women despise jealous men, and if they marry them, their
motive is other than that of affection.'

There is a tendency, in our very natures, to become what we are taken
to be. Beware then of suspicion or jealousy, lest you produce the very
thing which you most dread. The evil results of suspicion and jealousy
whether in single or married, public or private life, may be seen by
the following fact.

A certain professional gentleman had the misfortune to possess a
suspicious temper. He had not a better friend on the earth than Mr. C.,
yet by some unaccountable whim or other, he began of a sudden to
suspect he was his enemy;--and what was at first at the farthest
possible remove from the truth, ultimately gre