she may still
hope to replace her friends as is often done. But the real reason of
unhappiness (greater and deeper than this) lies in the fundamental
difference of the whole social structure between our country and that of
her adoption, and the radically different way of looking at every side of
life.

Surely a girl must feel that a man who allows a marriage to be arranged
for him (and only signs the contact because its pecuniary clauses are to
his satisfaction, and who would withdraw in a moment if these were
suppressed), must have an entirely different point of view from her own
on all the vital issues of life.

Foreigners undoubtedly make excellent husbands for their own women. But
they are, except in rare cases, unsatisfactory helpmeets for American
girls. It is impossible to touch on more than a side or two of this
subject. But as an illustration the following contrasted stories may be
cited:

Two sisters of an aristocratic American family, each with an income of
over forty thousand dollars a year, recently married French noblemen.
They naturally expected to continue abroad the life they had led at home,
in which opera boxes, saddle horses, and constant entertaining were
matters of course. In both cases, our compatriots discovered that their
husbands (neither of them penniless) had entirely different views. In
the first place, they were told that it was considered "bad form" in
France for young married women to entertain; besides, the money was
needed for improvements, and in many other ways, and as every well-to-do
French family puts aside at least a third of its income as _dots_ for the
children (boys as well as girls), these brides found themselves cramped
for money for the first time in their lives, and obliged, during their
one month a year in Paris, to put up with hired traps, and depend on
their friends for evenings at the opera.

This story is a telling set-off to the case of an American wife, who one
day received a windfall in the form of a check for a tidy amount. She
immediately proposed a trip abroad to her husband, but found that he
preferred to remain at home in the society of his horses and dogs. So
our fair compatriot starts off (with his full consent), has her outing,
spends her little "pile," and returns after three or four months to the
home of her delighted spouse.

Do these two stories need any comment? Let our sisters and their friends
think twice before they make themselves irr