no other improvement is made, this
opening explanation of the 'causes' for which marriage was ordained
might well be omitted, if only for the fact that it places last the
principal reason for marrying--_i.e._ 'for the mutual society, help and
comfort.' The Church of England might well take a lesson from the
Quakers or from the New Jerusalem Church, a religious community founded
on the writings of that great mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg. In the case of
the Society of Friends, the procedure is simple in the extreme. After a
time spent in silent prayer, the parties stand and, holding hands, say
solemnly in turn: 'Friends, I take this my friend, A. B., to be my
_wife_, promising, through divine assistance, to be unto _her_ a loving
and faithful _husband_, until it shall please the Lord by death to
separate us.' The New Church formula is longer, but equally beautiful
and free from objectionable matter.

II

SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE TO HUSBANDS AND WIVES

'One doesn't want a lot of fine sentiments in married life--they
don't work.' --W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

The most valuable piece of advice it is possible to give a couple
starting on the 'long and straight and dusty road' of matrimony is:
'Blessed are they who expect little.' The next best is 'Strive to
realise your ideal, but accept defeat philosophically.' It is difficult
to live happily with a person who has a very high ideal of us; somehow
it creates in us an unholy longing to do our worst. Miranda often says
to me: 'The reason Lysander and I are so perfectly happy is because we
never mind showing our worst side to each other, we never feel we need
pretend to be better than we are.' Mark this, Bride and Bridegroom;
remember a pedestal is a very uncomfortable place to settle on, and
don't assign this uncomfortable elevation to your life's partner. More
marriages have been ruined by one expecting too much of the other than
by any vice or failing.

On the other hand, at the risk of being tedious, I must repeat that the
most essential thing in Marriage is respect. It is above love, above
compatibility, above even the priceless sense of humour. Respect will
hold the tottering edifice of matrimony together when passion is dead
and even love has faded. Respect will make even the 'appalling intimacy'
endurable, and will bring one through the most trying disagreements,
with no bruise on the soul, whatever wounds there may be in the heart.
Therefore, Bride and Bride