what is said, that such a thing as a good
stepmother can be found. Stepmothers, like mothers-in-law, get more
abuse than they deserve.

I know stepmothers who have been devoted mothers to their husband's
children. I even know some who had children of their own, and who
continued to be excellent mothers to the children by a former wife; but
it is expecting too much of a woman to ask her to love other people's
children as dearly as she does her own. Two broods will seldom live
happily huddled together in the same nest. If it sometimes happens to
be so, it is the exception.

The world is crowded with young girls who have preferred a rough life
of toil and misery to living with cold, indifferent stepmothers, who
made them keenly feel the loss they had sustained when their own
mothers died.

When the children are grown up, there is no excuse for a man to
remarry. Yet he sometimes marries a young girl, but then it is, on his
part, a sacrifice again. He wants to give a companion and a playfellow
to his daughters, and, to attain that end, he does not hesitate to
commit an infamy. Sometimes he marries an old one, and commits an act
of profanity, of _lese amour_. A man, fond of his wife, does not see
her grow old; but no woman above fifty can inspire in a man of any age
any other sentiments than those of friendship and respect. He may be
the friend of such a woman, but he should not be her husband.

We might philosophize at great length on such topics.

I loathe giving advice, yet I cannot refrain from saying as much as
this: If either a widower or a widow fall in love again, let them
remarry by all means; but if the real inducement is the love of their
children, let them, for the sake of Heaven, for the very sake of their
children, engage the services of a good, motherly housekeeper. This has
invariably proved to answer very well.

CHAPTER XLI

THE LAWS AND CEREMONY OF MARRIAGE

Laws that will be altered during the twentieth century--People will
have to pass examinations before they are allowed to marry--The
Church should give young couples a happy start, and change the
ceremony of marriage.

It is my sincere belief, as it is my fond hope, for the sake of
humanity, that the laws of marriage will be altered before this century
is fifty years old. Just as the Legislatures of all the civilized
nations will change the laws relating to inheritance and the tenure of
the land and the treasure therei