bition. And I said I would rather have been a
French peasant and worn wooden shoes. I would rather have lived in a
hut with a vine growing over the door, and the grapes growing purple in
the kisses of the Autumn sun; I would rather have been that poor
peasant with my loving wife by my side, knitting as the day died out of
the sky, with my children upon my knees and their arms about me; I
would rather have been that man and gone down to the tongueless silence
of the dreamless dust than to have been that imperial impersonation of
force and murder, known as Napoleon the Great. It is not necessary to
be rich in order to be happy. It is only necessary to be in love.
Thousands of men go to college and get a certificate that they have an
education, and that certificate is in Latin and they stop studying, and
in two years, to save their life, they couldn't read the certificate
they got.

It is mostly so in marrying. They stop courting when they get married.
They think, we have won her and that is enough. Ah! the difference
before and after! How well they look! How bright their eyes! How
light their steps, and how full they were of generosity and laughter! I
tell you a man should consider himself in good luck if a woman loves
him when he is doing his level best! Good luck! Good luck! And
another thing that is the cause of much trouble is that people don't
count fairly. They do what they call putting their best foot forward.
That means lying a little. I say put your worst foot forward. If you
have got any faults admit them. If you drink say so and quit it. If
you chew and smoke and swear, say so. If some of your kindred are not
very good people, say so. If you have had two or three that died on
the gallows, or that ought to have died there, say so. Tell all your
faults and if after she knows your faults she says she will have you,
you have got the dead wood on that woman forever. I claim that there
should be perfect equality in the home, and I can not think of anything
nearer Heaven than a home where there is true republicanism and true
democracy at the fireside. All are equal.

And then, do you know, I like to think that love is eternal; that if
you really love the woman, for her sake, you will love her no matter
what she may do; that if she really loves you, for your sake, the same;
that love does not look at alterations, through the wrinkles of time,
through the mask of years--if you really love her you wi