Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/174

166 ought not long to be delayed, if no impediment exist, such as inability on the part of the young man to support a wife.

Among the reasons that have been urged against a young lady’s contracting marriage immediately, is the following by Mrs. Farrar, which is well worth considering. She says, “The married school-girl deprives herself of a most delightful and useful stage in her existence—that of a grown-up daughter, maturing under the eye of a mother, and the influence of a home circle, with time enough for mental culture, and a useful experience of domestic affairs, without the care which belongs to the mistress of a family. She loses all the varied pleasures of a young lady, and skips at once from childhood to married life. Early marriage also prevents the literary education of a girl being carried far enough for it to go forward easily, amid the cares of a family, and therefore it often ceases altogether; in a few years, she loses what little she acquired at school, and degenerates into a mere house-keeper and nurse.” * * * “I would fain believe that I am writing for a class of ladies too young to need much advice upon that, [love and marriage;] and though I occasionally hear of school-girls who forfeit the privileges and pleasures of being grown-up young ladies, and jump