hole, I hold it very fortunate that in
American marriages there is, generally speaking, more prudence than love
on both sides, for from the peculiar habits and customs of the country,
a woman who loved without prudence would not feel very happy as a wife.

Let us enter into an examination of the married life in the United
States.

All the men in America are busy; their whole time is engrossed by their
accumulation of money; they breakfast early and repair to their stores
or counting-houses; the majority of them do not go home to dinner, but
eat at the nearest tavern or oyster-cellar, for they generally live at a
considerable distance from the business part of the town, and time is
too precious to be thrown away. It would be supposed that they would be
home to an early tea; many are, but the majority are not. After
fagging, they require recreation, and the recreations of most Americans
are politics and news, besides the chance of doing a little more
business, all of which, with drink, are to be obtained at the bars of
the principal commercial hotels in the city. The consequence is, that
the major portion of them come home late, tired, and go to bed; early
the next morning they are off to their business again. Here it is
evident that the women do not have much of their husband's society; nor
do I consider this arising from any want of inclination on the part of
the husbands, as there is an absolute necessity that they should work as
hard as others if they wish to do well, and what one does, the other
must do. Even frequenting the bar is almost a necessity, for it is
there that they obtain all the information of the day. But the result
is that the married women are left alone; their husbands are not their
companions, and if they could be, still the majority of the husbands
would not be suitable companions for the following reasons. An American
starts into life at so early an age that what he has gained at school,
with the exception of that portion brought into use from his business,
is lost. He has no time for reading, except the newspaper; all his
thoughts and ideas are centred in his employment; he becomes perfect in
that, acquires a great deal of practical knowledge useful for making
money, but for little else. This he must do if he would succeed, and
the major portion confine themselves to such knowledge alone. But with
the women it is different; their education is much more extended than
that of the men, be