then, will be the pleasure of
matrimony? The cares of a family, when the family is large and unruly,
are more perplexing than the cares of a state. Cardan confessed, that
out of four great troubles which he had experienced, two arose from his
children. When Thales was asked why he did not marry, he replied,
"because I want no children." One of the ancient sages was so much
impressed with the disappointments and anxieties of matrimony, that when
he was asked, at what time, a man should marry? replied, "If he be
young, not yet; if older, not at all."

This sentiment however, so repugnant to all our ideas of social
improvement, as well as to the command of our Creator, who presented
woman to man as a helpmate, because it was not good that he should live
alone, and demanded of them to "be fruitful and multiply," will find no
advocates except among the disappointed, the ignorant, and the
abandoned. "The love of woman" is a feeling too deeply rooted in the
breast of man, and the reality of domestic felicity has been too long
tested by experience, for either to be sacrificed on the altar of the
revilers of matrimony, whether they be libertines, weak husbands, or
misnamed "philosophers."

The dearest boon from Heaven above,
Is bliss which brightly hallows home,
'Tis sunlight to the world of love,
And life's pure wine without its foam.
There is a sympathy of heart
Which consecrates the social shrine,
Robs grief of gloom and doth impart
A joy to gladness all divine.

+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Transcriber's Note |
| |
| Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Details |
| are provided in the source of the associated html version. |
| Archaic spellings have been retained. |
| |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches of the Fair Sex, in All Parts
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