he holds a first
place, or she holds none at all. The moment she holds a secondary
place she is ruined. It is in her power to hold the first place. To do
this, she must prize it; make sacrifices to keep it; almost, at times,
deny herself, and bear a cross, to hold on to it. Yet it is hers, and
God will see to it that she maintains her right.

"_God brought her_." Every husband in this world should feel that
his wife is God's gift to him, and it is his duty to study its
characteristics, and minister to them. Every man can make the partner
of his life a good wife, and can feel that she was God-given, and must
be used in such a manner that when the day of reckoning comes, he can
give a good account of the manner in which he has used this blessing.
To go to the judgment, and meet a broken-hearted woman, over whom man
has exercised tyranny, and to whom he has been a monster, until hope
died, and the grave became a refuge, will not be a pleasant meeting.

In this bestowal of woman upon man, we recognize two facts.

1. The father's right to give away his child--a right which exerts its
influence at the present time, and which every young man who seeks
properly the hand of woman is compelled to recognize. In that act of
Eden lie the rule and example to be followed by parents and children:
the one to dispose of their children, and the other to have the
consent of their parents in reaching conclusions upon which hinges the
destiny of the individual for time, and perhaps for eternity. Happy
the child that trusts a wise parent, and refuses to walk a path over
which the shadow of parental disapproval rests! Happy the parent who
finds pleasure in the fresh young love of the child, and watches the
opening flower and the ripening fruit with pride and pleasure.

This giving away of the child requires the enjoyment of perfect
confidence between father and daughter and mother and son.

God knew Eve, for he built her. He knew her heart, her mind, her
aspiration. A parent knows something of the child; and well it is for
both parent and child when this knowledge is perfect, and when the
relation subsisting between parents and children is such that home is
a place of consultation. A home without secrets, without closed doors,
and locked drawers and sugar-boxes,--a home where thought is free, and
mind is untrammelled, is the very gate of heaven.

There are homes where the children are excluded from counsel, from
love, from plan, from ass