Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/179

Rh in an effort to make the very best of a bad bargain. Although the parties never know, by experience, what true felicity flows from a true marriage, they, nevertheless, in most cases, manage to get along as comfortably as possible, and avoid, as far as it can be done, all bickerings and collisions, for the sake of peace, their reputation, or their children.

But, where qualities of mind are considered the first essential of marriage, and where it is entered into with all external things regarded as subordinate, from a pure love of the moral beauty of the one with whom a union is about to be formed, happiness must flow as a natural consequence. This result, however, cannot follow, unless both be influenced by right ends; and it is, therefore, of as much consequence to a young lady, that he who seeks her hand should do so from right motives, as that she should accept him from right motives. To be as well assured of the purity of her lover’s ends as her own, she will find to be a matter of some difficulty. But, until all reasonable doubts on the subject are removed, she should hesitate about accepting his offer of marriage; for to do so would be running a risk greater than any young lady should incur. If, from evidence not to be questioned, a young lady is fully