A Handbook to Marriage

Southland Times, Issue 90124, 25 January 1886, Page 4

A Handbook to Marriage

r , '(Pall Mall Budget). * la spite of its somewhat alarming title, this book* may be highly recommended tti every .OD6. As for the authorities he % quotes, they :*axe almost numberless, and raDge from _ Socrates down to Artemns Ward. He tells 'jtm of .the wicked bachelor who sp.oke of mar{fiege as ' a very harmless amusement, 1 and advised a young friend of his to ' marry early marry often ;' of Dr. Johnson, who pro»pOfed'thatTnaTriages T Bhould.bo arranged by ; *lfc(B. -Lord Chancellor without the parties con-' eerned hayiDg any choice in the matter ; of • ,the Buseex labourer who asked, 'Why should* J I give a woman half my victuals for cooking the other, halt?' and of Lord Verulam, who thought that unmarried men did the best jpublic work. And, indeed, marriage is the ♦ we subject on which all women agree and all .-Men dipagree. Our author, however, is dearly of the same opinion as the Sco'cn lassie, who, on her father warning her what a solemn thing it was to get married, an•wered, • I Sen that, father, but it's a great v deal solemner to be single.' He may be regarded a«V thechampion of the married Hfe.; Indeed, he has a most interesting chapi er on Biarriagemade men, and though he dissents, aid we think rightly, from the view recently put forward by a lady or two on the woman's figbti platform, that Solomon owed all bis Wisdom to the number of his wives, still he appeals to Bi'taarck, John Stuart Mill, Ma-' I konamed. and Lord Beaconsfield as iostanccs Of men whose success can be traced to the in-

floehce of the women they married. Arcfc-

btohop Whately once defined woman as 'a ; i ©feature that dbeah't reason, and pokes the Ate ;fron>the top,' but since his day the higher i i'Odncation of women h&s considerably altered their position. Women have always hai an •motional sympathy with those they love ; Qirton 'and Nuneham have rendered intellectual sympathy also possible, : In- our dsy it is beat for a man to be married , end men mast give np the tyranny "in -married life which was once so dear to them, and which we §re afraid lingers still here and there. •Do yon wish to.be my wife, Mabel ?' said a little b>y. • Yes,' incautiously answered « Mabel \ 'Then pull off my boo M.' On marriage vowa our author has two very tensible yiews, and verj amusing stories. He tells of a nervous bridegroom who, oon'esing the baptismal and marriage ceremoniss, reV plied, when asked if he consented to take the bride for bis wife : '• I renounce them., all :' of » Hampshire rustic, who, when giving the fiqpi taid 'solemnly to the brie, ' With "my "■•■■■ 1>o&y I thee wash up, and with all my hnrdle goods I thee and thou :' of another Who, when ~ asked whether he would take his partner to , be; his wedded wife, replied, with shameful indecision,' Yes, I'm willin' ; but I'd a much tight rather have her siater ;' and of a Ncotch lady who, on the occasion of her daughter's Wedding, was asked by an old friend whether Ibe migLt congratulate her oh the event, and answered, ' Yes, yes, upon the w^ole it is very ■atisfactory. It is true Jxanie hates her good man; but then there'a always a something I' Indeed the good stotiea contained ia this book •re quite endless, and make it very pleasant ; leading, while the good advice is on all poitta admirable. Most .young married peopb '■'■■ nowadays start in Jife.with a dreadful collec- '" tion of ormolu inkstands covered with sham ohyxee, or with a perfect of saUj cellars. We strongly recommend this book as one of the best of wedding presents. It i, is a complete handbook to aa eartnly Paraw:' disc, and its author may ba re garded as the -Murray of : matrimony and the Baedtker of v bliss.

> * • How tob3 Happy though Married. Being a Handbook to Marriage. By a Graduate in the Uuiveraity of Matrimony.' London : T. • Fisher Unwin/ 26, Patemosteer-square.