not given to words to express the refinement of pleasure, the delicacy of joy, and the abounding fullness of satisfaction, that those feel whom God hath joined in a high marriage of spirit. We strive to attain through marriage a more expanded and perfect development of the elements of our entire being. The husband is to the ideal, actualized. Every man who has a soul of sufficient power, purity and tenderness, to render his nature attractive to his ideal is happily constituted. A man's best friend is a wife of good judgment and heart, whom he loves and who loves him. Woman has a sensitive regard for your character, honor, repute, and is always stimulative. The reciprocal influence of the sexes must be direct and powerful. No man ever does or can evolve his own excellences. They must lie dormant until the molding hand of beloved woman eliminates them. The reign of love removes the element of conflict. It teaches the true art of saying things. Enforcement by gentleness is a potent power. There is in woman a pleasing gayety which dissipates gloominess and promotes cheerfulness and its sequence politeness. Morals follow sentiment. Love in its depths is omnipotent to reconstruct and rectify the human heart. A man ceases to love himself, when others cease to love him. Every power belonging to the human soul is connate; onehalf inheres in one person and the other half in another. Let one person be united with another who has in his or her nature that which is calculated to call out the latent faculties of the soul, and there will be a mutual satisfaction. Marriage is but another name for love, for harmony and perfect trust between two souls. Love strikes its roots in the spiritual nature. The maiden finds in her hero a wis dom, to which intellect does homage while her heart is won by his attractive goodness. She leans her graceful twining form On her hero, bold and strong, They feel alike the sunbeam's warmth And when the sturdy oak-tree falls The essential element of the marriage relation is oneness, each should seek the entire heart of the other. Where human hearts agree, there God will be. Nothing is holier, nothing is lovelier, nothing is happier, nothing is more God-like, than the heart's offering upon the altar of love. We should believe in the omnipotence of love. It is a holy emanation from the Deity. We should listen to catch the lowest whisperings of the soul, until our feelings become deep and tender. We should brood over the wants and sorrows of human hearts until we feel warmly sympathetic. We should cultivate our love by trying to think only affectionately toward all, and accustom our memory to think words such as express friendship and love. When we have learned to respect the heart's affections we shall learn to use them tenderly. Woman cannot be lovely without being affectionate. Woman is the delicate vessel through which is borne upward and onward through the ages, the rich treasure of human affection. While the voice of wisdom is for self-reliance, for physical and intellectual strength, woman cannot with impunity neglect the beauty in her nature. A woman should be cultured; but have a very fine touch, for the affections; and it is far more important that she should talk pleasantly than learnedly. A certain kind of talent is indispensable for people who spend years together. To dwell in harmony, they should be versed in the niceties of the heart, and born with a faculty for willing compromise. How much dearer is the wife than the bride. We have lived and loved together, I have never known a sorrow That was long unsoothed by thee; As the past has been, would be; And thou thy smiles with me. To the keen eye of affection no change on a familiar face can long remain unread. Friendship naturally produces assimilation; and the highest state of pure love will be reciprocated and increased as the years increase. More years only elevate, refine and enrich love's experiences. Where true oneness exists, the power that attracted each to the other is more easily renewed and perpetuated. Graceful concessions will prevent disaffection, which frequently arises from trifling causes. Conformity is a first natural function of each and all the affections. It is a law of mind that we become like those with whom we associate. Children involuntarily obey this law, and become like those they love. They instinctively obey the chemical and mechanical laws under which their minds exist. Parents should be what they would have their children become. Manners take a tincture from our own. Mutual conformity obtains more especially between husband and wife; all the tastes and habits of each are but This beautiful instinct the reflection of those of the other. gives to each a certain control over the habits of the other. Being loved devotedly is indeed most glorious-only age and experience can appreciate how glorious. This is the heart's core of love. This is the spirit union which renders each perfectly happy in the other. In peace and joyous bliss, They lived long without debate; No private jars, no spite of enemies, Could shake the safe assurance of their state. Perfect transmission requires the perfect blending of all the parental entities. Fine sympathies and aspirations contribute vastly to the superiority of the formative spirit. In a true love state, therefore, their mental assimilation becomes the most essential feature of love, because it endows their posterity with mind, spirit and soul. It is the glory of our humanity that all the relations in which we stand to each other are stamped by the soul. How above all price is a love ancestry! Talk not of ancestry of princely titles, of knightly deeds, or parentage of wealth or station. This love-lineage is a foundation on which the soul may build for eternity. Oh, sweet, responsive, thrilling flame That melts our souls in ONE! O, holy love, thy joys proclaim And shall this union find no end? Oh, glorious thought! Oh, blissful hope! Oh, wise and wondrous plan! The thought 's too vast for human scope, The hope's too deep for man. Then know, my soul, and be content, That not e'en death can part Congenial souls together blent, THE WORLD IS FULL OF MISTAKES OF LOVE. In choosing the ideal companion, one must needs be judicious, because their influence, though silent, is perpetual. Those who are about choosing a companion should know that a radical change cannot be made in their intended partner. This knowledge will prevent the feeling of disappointment and continual dissatisfaction. The unhappy state of woman is the result of error of judgment; the absence of a distinctive conviction of congeniality; and absolute evidence of misunderstanding of character. Multifarious barriers militate against the true and wise choice. The great mistakes so often made, result from many causes, but chiefly that persons do not understand their own wants, and are not true to their own natures when they do understand them. Man mistakes transient excitement of passion, for love. Woman is influenced by vanity and ambition. Let each attend to the organization and true development of the sexual instinct, and seek to bring it, as they do other instincts, under the control of reason. We should use our imagination to harmonize our nature and lot; to see the truth and conform to it; to see what is out of proportion, and what is the final cure for every human ill. Woman must know her own disposition, as well as the qualities of mind and character of the one she seeks in marriage; conjugal harmony results from the natural pairing of sincerely earnest, unselfish lovers. It depends, first, on your own worthiness, then on that of your partner; and finally on the correlative fitness of your characters. The sphere of one person approaches another in exact accordance with the laws of natural congeniality; and the most reliable internal evidence of a true attraction is a perfect understanding between the parties and an equilibrium of reciprocation. The twain unite |