into vigorous operation the system which
Gil Blas prescribes, in dealing with chambermaids, a system employed by
statesmen to discover conspiracies and to learn how the ministers have
passed the night.

II. If you choose a young lady who, without being plain, does not belong
to the class of pretty women.

We regard it as an infallible principle that great sweetness of
disposition united in a woman with plainness that is not repulsive, form
two indubitable elements of success in securing the greatest possible
happiness to the home.

But would you learn the truth? Open your Rousseau; for there is not a
single question of public morals whose trend he has not pointed out in
advance. Read:

"Among people of fixed principles the girls are careless, the women
severe; the contrary is the case among people of no principle."

To admit the truth enshrined in this profound and truthful remark is
to conclude, that there would be fewer unhappy marriages if men wedded
their mistresses. The education of girls requires, therefore, important
modifications in France. Up to this time French laws and French manners
instituted to distinguish between a misdemeanor and a crime, have
encouraged crime. In reality the fault committed by a young girl is
scarcely ever a misdemeanor, if you compare it with that committed by
the married woman. Is there any comparison between the danger of giving
liberty to girls and that of allowing it to wives? The idea of taking a
young girl on trial makes more serious men think than fools laugh. The
manners of Germany, of Switzerland, of England and of the United States
give to young ladies such rights as in France would be considered
the subversion of all morality; and yet it is certain that in these
countries there are fewer unhappy marriages than in France.

LV.
"Before a woman gives herself entirely up to her lover, she ought to
consider well what his love has to offer her. The gift of her esteem and
confidence should necessarily precede that of her heart."

Sparkling with truth as they are, these lines probably filled with light
the dungeon, in the depths of which Mirabeau wrote them; and the keen
observation which they bear witness to, although prompted by the most
stormy of his passions, has none the less influence even now in solving
the social problem on which we are engaged. In fact, a marriage sealed
under the auspices of the religious scrutiny which assume