ng woman insensible to any fault in her lover.
Many persist in being blind to the least moral blemish in the loved. We
are told that the lamented Mrs. Hemans was a victim to a passion of this
nature. She was warned by her friends of the unsuitableness and dangers
of her intended connection. Yet neither this admonition, nor a three
years' separation from her lover, could quench her affection for him.
The soldier and hero of her glowing imagination had power to captivate,
and then ruin, her noble spirit.

When a dismission becomes inevitable, let it be given with decision, yet
kindly. Never should the event be made matter of public remark, nor
should a letter or line of the former correspondence be rudely exposed.
Let oblivion rest on the whole transaction. But so painful an issue
should, if possible, be averted. For no freak of fancy, still less for
the gibes and jests of others, should so important a connection be
frustrated. The cause should be one that sober judgment will approve, to
your latest day.

A most trying lot is hers, who is deserted by one, who had given a
solemn pledge to be hers through life. It is no credit to steel one's
self against the sorrows of such a lot. There are those, who would well
nigh offer their life to gain a lover, and yet could think of a
faithless one only with emotions of indignation or anger. Such can
possess but an apparent affection. I speak of that which is true and
deep. When this is thus wounded, let the sufferer preserve a calm
temper, if possible, a calm exterior always, and turn from human
faithlessness to that Love which is a perennial fountain.

As regards the Preparation to be made for marriage, where it is
contemplated with fair prospects of certainty, little need here be said.
The whole previous life should be one act of preparation. The
school-room should train the wife and the mother. Fidelity to home, to
parents, brothers, sisters, and all the inmates of the paternal roof, is
among the best qualifications for married life. If these duties have
been hitherto neglected, be assured that the marriage ceremony will do
little to supply the deficiency.

The Duration of an engagement should ordinarily be brief, at least, not
needlessly protracted. We are told that no tomb in Pere Lachaise is so
often decorated with chaplets of fresh flowers as that of Abelard and
Heloise. This shows how large is the number of thwarted and disappointed
lovers who visit that cemetery. Not a