tended spouse is
kind-hearted, generous, and willing to respect the opinions of others,
though not in sympathy with them. Don't marry a selfish tyrant who thinks
only of himself.

6. BE CAREFUL.--Don't marry an intemperate man with a view of reforming
him. Thousands have tried it and failed. Misery, sorrow and a very hell on
earth have been the consequences of too many such generous undertakings.

7. THE TRUE AND ONLY TEST which any man should look for in woman is modesty
in demeanor before marriage, absence both of assumed ignorance and
disagreeable familiarity, and a pure and religious frame of mind. Where
these are present, he need not doubt that he has a faithful and a chaste
wife.

8. MARRYING FIRST COUSINS is dangerous to offspring. The observation is
universal, the children of married first cousins are too often idiots,
insane, clump-footed, crippled, blind, or variously diseased. First cousins
are always sure to impart all the hereditary disease in both families to
their children. If both are healthy there is less danger.

9. DO NOT CHOOSE ONE TOO GOOD, or too far above you, lest the inferior
dissatisfying the superior, breed those discords which are worse than the
trials of a single life. Don't be too particular; for you might go farther
and fare worse. As far as you yourself are faulty, you should put up with
faults. Don't cheat a consort by getting one much better than you can give.
We are not in heaven yet, and must put up with their imperfections, and
instead of grumbling at them, be glad they are no worse; remembering that a
faulty one is a great deal better than none, if he loves you.

10. MARRYING FOR MONEY.--Those who seek only the society of those who can
boast of wealth will nine times out of ten suffer disappointment. Wealth
cannot manufacture true love nor money buy domestic happiness. Marry
because you love each other, and God will bless your home. A cottage with a
loving wife is worth more than a royal palace with a discontented and
unloving queen. {147}

11. DIFFERENCE IN AGE.--It is generally admitted that the husband should be
a few years older than the wife. The question seems to be how much
difference. Up to twenty-two those who propose marriage should be about the
same age; however, other things being equal, a difference of fifteen years
after the younger is twenty-five, need not prevent a marriage. A man of
forty-five may marry a woman of twenty-five much more safely than one of
thirt