ost exacting. It will not,
should not, be second in anything. "First or nothing," is its motto.
Meet as often as possible. After its fires have once been lit, they
must be perpetually resupplied with their natural fuel; else they die
down, go out, or go elsewhere; and are harder to rekindle than to
light at first.

A splendid young man, son of one of New England's most talented and
pious divines, endowed with one of the very best of organisms,
physical and phrenological, having selected his mate, and plighted
their mutual vows, being the business manager of a large manufactory,
and obliged to defend several consecutive lawsuits for patent-right
infringements, neglected for weeks to write to his betrothed,
presupposing, of course, that all was right. This offended her
ladyship, and allowed evil-minded meddlers to sow seeds of alienation
in her mind; persuade her to send him his dismissal, and accept a
marriage proposal from another.

As he told his mournful story, he seemed like a sturdy oak riven by
lightning and torn by whirlwinds; its foliage scorched, bark stripped,
limbs tattered, even its very rootlets scathed; yet standing, a stern,
proud, defiant, resolute wreck. A gushing tear he manfully tried but
failed to suppress. His lips quivered and voice faltered. Perceiving
his impending fate, he seemed to dread his future more than present;
and hesitated between self-abandonment, and a merely mechanical,
objectless, business life. In attempting his salvation, by proffering
advice to the "broken-hearted," he respectfully but firmly declined;
deliberately preferring old-bachelorship, with all its dearths, of
which he seemed fully conscious. He felt as if he had been deeply
wronged.

Yet was not he the _first_ practically to repudiate? He suffered
terribly, because he had sinned grievously, not by commission, but
omission. He felt the deepest, fullest, manliest love, and revelled in
anticipations of their future union, but did not _express_ it; which
was to her as if he had not felt it; whereas, had he saved but one
minute per week to write lovingly, "I long to be with you, and love
you still," or, "Business does not, cannot diminish my fondness," he
would have saved her broken vows, and his broken heart.

Mingling other enjoyments with love, by going together to picnics and
parties, sleigh-rides and Mayings, concerts, and lectures,
marvellously cements the affections.

Love Feeds on Love.

Meet in your most at