m. Or, blind to those faults, which every one else discovers,
and warns them against, they commit their destiny to the actually
abandoned. I knew one of this class, who, in spite of all remonstrance,
married an intemperate man, and who went even so far as to say, after
his death, which resulted from this vice, "that she never saw her
husband intoxicated in his life."

Some marry to remove from an Unpleasant Home. They are obliged, perhaps,
to work hard for a small compensation, or for none. The mother is unkind
to them, or the father is morose. The daughter receives frequent hints
about her support, or, of her marriage being necessary to make her
"respectable" among her companions; or, the parents talk of their own
early engagement, &c. This conversation awakens a strong desire to
escape dependence upon them. Other circumstances serve to alienate a
female from the place of her birth, her town, or village, and she is
induced to sacrifice herself to any one who proffers his hand.

But is it not

"Better to bear the ills we have,
Than flee to those we know not of?"

By an ill-assorted match, a lady is placed in a situation, where, let
her have suffered as she might previously, her condition is nearly
certain to be made worse by the change. Under the parental roof, she
enjoyed much liberty; but now she is chained to one spot, and must
receive to her bosom, a being, who inflicts pangs on her spirit. The die
is cast; she is enslaved by a perpetual master. Piteous is her doom.

Many are married to obtain a Home. They desire an establishment; the
prospect of having no dwelling, which they can call "their own," fills
them with restless apprehensions. They crave some special protector, in
whom they may merge, as it were, their own being, and be thereby
released from personal responsibilities; one on whom they may lean for
the gratification of every wish and want. Like the emigrant who leaves
the tough soil of New England, for the glorious West, they imagine that
their exchange is to release them from toil, and crown them, at the
same moment, with plenty.

Such expectations are delusive. Woman was not created for this absolute
and unlimited ease. Neither single, nor married, can she subsist with
comfort to herself, except by being largely endowed with
self-dependence. As a wife, she will not be caressed and cherished in
one cloudless day, even though her husband prove the kindest of his sex.
She must do and suffer m