d by circumstances precisely similar. If children are
born, neither father nor mother is fit to act the part of a parent to
them. The father, by reason of his age, is fitful, uncertain, and
childish; to-day too lenient, to-morrow too exacting. The mother is
pettish, childish, indulgent, impatient, and as unskilled in
government as unfit for motherhood. In the midst of all this misrule,
the child grows up undisciplined, uncultivated, unsubdued; a misery
to his parents, a disgrace to his friends, a dishonor to himself.

"What shall I do with him? and what will he do with me?" was the question
asked by a girl of eighteen whose parents were urging her to marry an
old man; and every young woman would do well to propound it under similar
circumstances.

Were we disposed to define more specifically the conditions necessary
to secure the most harmonious matrimonial unions, it would be useless
to do so; for unions of this sort never have been, and never will
be--with rare exceptions--formed in accordance with a prescribed
method independent of any emotional bias. Nor is it probable that such
a plan would result in remedying, in any appreciable degree, existing
evils. It is a fact too patent to be ignored that a very large share
of the unhappiness in the world arises from ill-mated marriages; but
it is also true that nearly the whole of this unhappiness might be
averted if the parties themselves would endeavor to lessen the
differences between them by mutual approximation.

Courtship.--We cannot well avoid devoting a few paragraphs to a part
of the subject so important as this, especially as it affords an
opportunity for pointing out some evils too patent and too perilous
to be ignored.

Courting, in the sense in which we use the word, is distinctly an
American custom. The social laws of other civilized countries are such
as to preclude the possibility of the almost unrestrained association
of the sexes in youth which we see in this country. We do not offer
this fact as an argument in favor of foreign social customs, by any
means, although in this one particular they often present great
advantages, since in the majority of instances other evils as great
or even greater are encouraged. We mention the fact simply for the
purpose of bringing into bold relief the evils of the characteristic
American looseness in this particular.

A French matron would be horrified at the idea of a young man asking
her daughter to accompany him