ry unfavorably with any among
the brute creation.

6. THE KALMUCK TARTAR races for his bride on horseback, she having a
certain start previously agreed upon. The _nuptial knot_ consists in
catching her, but we are told that the result of the race all depends upon
whether the girl wants to be caught or not.

7. SANDWICH ISLANDERS.--Marriage among the early natives of these islands
was merely a matter of mutual inclination. There was no ceremony at all,
the men and women united and separated as they felt disposed.

8. THE FEUDAL LORD, in various parts of Europe, when any of his dependents
or followers married, exercised the right of assuming the bridegroom's
proper place in the marriage couch for the first night. Seldom was there
any escape from this abominable practice. Sometimes the husband, if
wealthy, succeeded in buying off the petty sovereign from exercising his
privilege.

9. THE SPARTANS had the custom of encouraging intercourse between their
best men and women for the sake of a superior progeny, without any
reference to a marriage ceremony. Records show that the ancient Roman
husband has been known to invite a friend, in whom he may have admired some
physical or mental trait, to share the favors of his wife, that the
peculiar qualities that he admired might be repeated in the offspring.

[Illustration]

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[Illustration: The Peasant Father Blessing His Daughter at Her Engagement.]

* * * * *

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[Illustration]

Hasty marriage seldom proveth well.--_Shakespere, Henry VI._

The reason why so few marriages are happy is, because young ladies
spend their time in making nets, not in making cages.--_Swift, Thoughts
on Various Subjects._

* * * * *

Sensible Hints in Choosing a Partner.

1. There are many fatal errors and many love-making failures in courtship.
Natural laws govern all nature and reduce all they govern to eternal right;
therefore love naturally, not artificially. Don't love a somebody or a
nobody simply because they have money.

2. COURT SCIENTIFICALLY.--If you court at all, court scientifically. Bungle
whatever else you will, but do not bungle courtship. A failure in this may
mean more than a loss of wealth or public honors; it may mean ruin, or a
life often worse than death. The world is full of wretched and mismated
people.

BEGIN RIGHT and all will be right; begin wrong and all will end wrong.