ity; who makes a mock of religion; who is addicted
to profanity; who is either grossly intemperate or given to moderate
tippling, be it ever so little, so long as he does not believe in and
practice total abstinence; who uses tobacco; who is a jockey, a fop,
a loafer, a scheming dreamer, or a speculator; who is known to be
unchaste, or who has led a licentious life.

The man who has no love for his Maker will be likely to have little
for his wife and children. He who does not acknowledge his
responsibility to a higher power will soon forget his obligations to
the wife he has promised to love and cherish. The man who is not willing
to sacrifice the gratification afforded by such pernicious habits as
dram-drinking and tobacco-using to insure the comfort and happiness
of his wife and children, is too selfish to make any woman a kind
husband.

There is no greater error abroad than that held by not a few that "a
reformed rake makes the best husband." The man whose affections have
been consumed in the fires of unhallowed lust is incapable of giving
to a pure-minded woman the love that she expects and deserves. A person
cannot pass through the fire unscathed. The scars burned into the
character by the flames of concupiscence are as deep and lasting as
those inflicted upon the body, and even more so. Only "in the
regeneration" will the marks and scars of the reformed reprobate be
wholly effaced.

We willingly grant that there have been numerous instances in which
noble women have by years of patient effort reformed their erring
husbands, restoring them to the paths of virtue and sobriety from which
they had wandered. We do not deny that it can be done again; but we
do not hesitate to say that the experiment is a most perilous one for
any woman to undertake, and one which not more than one woman in a
hundred can bring to a successful termination. The hazard is terrible.
Perhaps it is on this very account that many young women run the risk;
but they rarely understand what they are doing. The woman who marries
a drunkard will, ten chances to one, die a heart-broken drunkard's wife,
or follow her husband to a drunkard's grave. It is never safe for a
woman to marry a man who has been for years an habitual drunkard, since
he may relapse at any time; and the man who has only indulged moderately
should be thoroughly reformed and tested before the chances are taken
"for better or worse." Let him prove himself well first. A propositio