nd of making fastidious the people who have to
partake of it. True, but then let people who are intelligent and
thoughtful supply seasoning which will whet the appetite and combat
Habit, that demon which is their deadliest enemy.

It is folly, rank folly, to believe that it is wise, even prudent, to
exhaust all at once the sum of happiness, illusion, and love with which
one enters the state of matrimony, and to give one's self body and soul
until, soon satiated and by-and-by tired of each other, both will turn
their heads away in disgust, and may, later on, lose them in despair.

CHAPTER V

RAMBLES ABOUT MATRIMONY--II

There was a time, and I can remember it myself, when men as well as
women wore wedding-rings. It was, I think, a very pretty custom. The
wedding-ring ought to be worn by both husband and wife, not only as a
constant reminder of faith sworn, but also as a talisman; it should be a
cherished jewel given to the husband by the wife, as well as one given
to the wife by the husband, and given in each case with a loving,
earnest kiss impressed upon it. The wedding-ring is such a priceless
jewel in the eyes of loving women that I have heard of some who became
insane on losing it. Why should it not be priceless in the eyes of a man
who loves his wife?

* * *

Every time that two beings who live together are not of the same opinion
or of the same taste, a concession on the part of the one or of the
other has to be made, or trouble will follow. This is a rule without
exception. In conjugal parlance Concession is another name for Duty.
Concessions should even be made in everyday conversation, and long
discussions most carefully and invariably avoided. Discussions are
generally useless; they never lead to conviction, and may cause you to
run a dangerous risk--that of losing your control over your good temper.
In a wild desire to prove that he is right, a man will blurt out words
that he will be sorry to have uttered, betray thoughts which he always
meant to keep to himself, and when the discussion is over those words
remain and the harm is done.

The moment a discussion takes too lively a form, one of the two should
have enough self-control to stop adding fuel to it and remain silent,
even at the risk of letting the other suppose that his (or her)
arguments are unanswerable. Of course, this silence should be kind,
discreet; not that odious silence of ill-assorted couples, which is a
silence of