r that
each should have the interest of the other at heart and should strive to
be helpful one unto the other. Two men can go through life the best of
friends, each holding the respect and confidence of the other. So can
two women. _Then, why not a man and wife?_ Needless to say they can, and
do. Such partnerships are sure of success. It is only through lack of
comradeship that love flies out of the window--_and lights on a
sea-going aeroplane_.

The marriage state is a long contract--it should not be stumbled into by
man or woman. Nor should we become cowardly to the point of backing out
of it altogether. Love is blind _only to the blind_. Either party to the
tie that binds has a chance to know in advance whether the venture is
safe and sane. All a man has to consider after he knows his own heart is
that the woman of his choice is sensible, considerate and healthy. Other
things being equal he can take the leap without hesitancy. We shouldn't
borrow trouble.

[Illustration: _Demonstrating the Monk and the Hand-Organ to a Body of
Psychologists_]

Of course there are those who _should never marry_. They do, however,
and when they do they loan themselves to the mockery of the marriage
state. There is no time to dwell on this thought for it is just
something that goes on happening anyway and has no bearing upon the
advisability of "wedlock in time" between _people of horse sense_.

Given a good wife, after his own heart, no manly man has a righteous
kick coming against the fates. Under such circumstances if things go
wrong he will find the fault within himself. Of course we should, to the
fullest possible extent, be prepared for marriage before assuming its
responsibilities. We should at least have a ticket before embarking--and
it is the _real_ man's duty to provide the ticket. Since it is to be a
long voyage a "round trip" isn't necessary. In other words, a man
needn't be rich when he marries--but he should not be broke, either.
Lack of funds a few days after the honeymoon is too hard a test for
matrimony to bear nobly. It is too much like inviting a catastrophe
through lack of good, hard sense to begin with. It shows poor
generalship at the very start--and there is the liability of causing
great distress and hardship to a tender-hearted little woman. It would
be a sad blow to her to find that the man of her choice was, after all,
just an ordinary fellow--_a man without foresight_.

There are four seasons in married