live elephant or two standing on a beer-keg
or two, which is a wonderful feat for elephants, of course, but not an
entertaining one to human sight-seers; and as a final swindle, the
cannon act is a man on a spring disguised as a wooden cannon, who is
thus hoisted a few feet into the air, where he catches hold of his
swinging bar and completes the usual act of an "aerial acrobat." "Fi
on't!" as Hamlet says; "reform it altogether!"

DO NOT "BILL YOURSELF TOO STRONGLY"

before your divinity. She would love you if she thought you were just a
common man, like George Washington or Abraham Lincoln; so, if you tell
her you are poverty-stricken and prodigal, and it be true, then she
will think that she had rather have a demi-god, poor as Job's turkey,
than a common young man, like your brother or your friend, with all the
gold of King Plutus! Bring to her an honest heart, and you will, indeed,
bring treasures before her, and she would have no right to complain,
even were she so inclined. Love does not seem to be a matter of
volition--

OF "WANT TO, OR DON'T WANT TO."

"No man or woman," says Arthur Helps, "was ever cured of love by
discovering the falseness of his or her lover. The living together for
three long rainy days in the country, has done more to dispel love than
all the perfidies in love that have ever been committed." Just think of
that during all the time of your courtship. Dread the "living together,"
and when you come to stand the test, the test will not be too great for
you. A young man, truly, doesn't need to be married, as a full-grown one
does. But

IN ORDER TO REAP WE MUST SOW.

Our bachelor friend of forty wants to reap just as badly as you, but his
fields will be waste while yours will be growing. When you get your
life insured at twenty-one they charge you about ten times what the risk
really is. Why? Because, although they have not the least idea that you
are going to die now, they know the mortgage is on your life, and the
dues, when you pass fifty, would, in justice, be higher than mortal man
would pay. Therefore they even it up.

YOU LAY ASIDE A SURPLUS

for your old age, and, until lately, the courts held you could collect
that surplus, if your contract were not completed to the end of your
existence. Thus, in marrying, you are following the wise ordinance of
God. You are choosing a blooming, healthy young woman while you are
yourself fresh enough to attract her love and hold it. You