e cooler judgment that should, and generally does, guide the
family, independent of sex or custom.

* * *

As in the solar spectrum, so in love: beyond and intermingled with the
visible rays of passion are numerous actinic but invisible rays of
affection, invisible to careless spectators, but known and felt by the
recipients. These, too, must be introduced if the connubial domicile is
to be warmed as well as illuminated.

* * *

The marriage tie loosens all other ties. In fact,

Neither men or women are always aware of the absoluteness of the marriage
tie: thenceforward the woman belongs not to her own people, hardly to
herself.--As to the man, well,

Often a wife will actually be jealous of the time and attention her
husband spends on things and matters unconnected with her--his work
--his play--his politics--his friends--his club.

* * *

Many are there who still believe that the marriage service, like a legal
indenture, irrevocably entails the whole estate of a human heart. In
sober truth,

There never was a married couple yet who had not to purchase their own
happiness. And

The only charms that increase in value as time goes on are the charms of
character; beside these, those of person, and even those of mind, are
weak. In short,

In marriage, as in every human relationship, it is character that avails
and prevails, naught else.

* * *

Chemists draw a distinction between a chemical and a mechanical mixture.
Moralists might discover the same in marriage.

* * *

To encircle monogamy with an ever-increasing halo of romance--that is a
problem deserving of study.

Monogamy is one of the disharmonies of life; it seems (as I have said) to
be the decree of politics rather than of nature.

But surely polygamy or polyandry would be more disharmonious still.

* * *

Marriage renders no one immune. That is to say;

Unless husband and wife both avoid infection, both can catch amatory
fevers.

* * *

The woman who has learned how to minister to a man's creature comforts
has learned much. And

It has disconcerted many a young wife to discover how important a part of
her education this is! Since

It is certainly sometimes hard to reconcile a suitor's poetic
protestations with a spouse's prosaic requisitions.

* * *

In the game of life a man may venture many stakes; a woman's fate is
determined by a single throw of the dice. Thus,

How often it happens that a young and inexperience