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uses are of the highest possible order physically, mentally and
spiritually. The love which brings the two together and which should
bind them together, requires only a comfortable home of respectable
appearance. Young married people should begin like young married people;
it is more orderly and more conducive to the welfare and true happiness
of each that, as time passes on, they build up their fortunes together,
each helping the other--thus affording new charms that no other course
will or can yield.

In the choice of a wife, a man should especially seek _congeniality_. He
should make the acquaintance of a young lady living and moving in the
same sphere of life as his own, such as is congenial to his tastes; he
should see her in company with other young people and observe how she
treats them; and particularly notice how she acts towards her father
and mother, brothers and sisters: for a good daughter and sister always
makes a good wife. Study closely her character, her mental discipline,
her tastes in reading and her mode of life generally. Above all, note
her disposition as to selfishness, whether she be determined and bent
upon having her own way in everything, or whether she is yielding and
thoughtful of the comfort and happiness of her associates. Remember that
in the married state there must be a mutual yielding to each other,
though not the sinking of the wife's identity, so that the combined life
of the two may become one harmonious whole. Observe what she thinks of
children and get her opinion as to how they should be brought up and
educated. Be sure that she is one who can be loved most tenderly, one
for whom a man can make any sacrifice in reason for her sake--for whom
one can deny himself any comfort, any and every passion, brave any
danger, and conquer every difficulty in his power, to make her life
happy and useful. One quality: Is she strictly virtuous? Is she chastity
itself in thought, word and deed? If you, young man, have been the same,
if you have held yourself in by "bit and bridle," as it were,--then, if
she reciprocates your love, you are at liberty to propose marriage to
her.

Before marriage, a young man takes great pains to make himself
attractive, is very attentive and polite, keeps up a genteel appearance
and is civility itself, that he may woo and win the young lady most
nearly approaching his ideal of feminine perfection, and the one most
nearly suited to his tastes and congeniality.