uch for his sake, or the bonds of their love
will soon be as flax amid flames. If she enter the marriage state with
any other design than to devote herself to her family, to toil more,
instead of less, than she now does, either by mental or manual
exertions, or by both, let her be assured of a fearful disappointment.
She may promise herself, in a pure connection, great joy, much to
compensate her sacrifices, but a life of ease and entire freedom from
care, let her never anticipate.

There are ladies compelled, I am aware, to seek a home by matrimony,
through the influence of their parents. This may be exerted, as in
Mexico, indirectly, through solicitors and by management, or, like the
French, the parents may negotiate the marriage in person, if not in
form, yet by such methods, as to leave the daughter no alternative, but
to accept such shelter abroad as any suitor may propose to her.

Rise, I entreat you, above this servitude. There is a method, by which
you may provide an habitation for yourself. Prepare so completely to
earn your own livelihood, that no one, friend or foe, dare say of you,
"she is obliged by her helplessness to marry some one." There are
honorable avocations, and not a few either, in which every young woman
can support herself. Let all be acquainted with some of them, with one
at least. Then may they listen to overtures of marriage, with the
feeling, that, as for a home, that, they have already secured by the
skill of their own mind and hands.

Young ladies sometimes marry for Wealth. They have been educated to
regard this as the criterion of excellence. A man's "worth" is reckoned,
not in moral attainments, but in dollars and cents. He, therefore, who
is poor, is set down as beneath much consideration. From her earliest
days, the girl has, perhaps, heard her parents talk of "being
well-settled," of "a good establishment," and "a handsome property," as
the _sine qua non_ of married life. In Tartary, a young man must
purchase his bride, and if too poor to give money, he must serve her
father four or five years. If a richer rival presents himself before
the term of service expires, the first suitor is dismissed; he can claim
only wages for his work. How many parents in this civilized and
Christian land, thus sell their daughters. Give the transaction whatever
smooth name you please, it is, after all, a bargain and sale.

Legislators, it appears, sometimes openly and directly encourage this
traffic