184 PLAI]^ FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



or similar questions are sometimes asked, but little 

 respect is paid to tliem by any one, least of all by the 

 young people themselves, who ought to be most inter- 

 ested. The minister never inquires respecting the pro- 

 priety of the wedding at which he is to officiate, and 

 invokes the blessings of Heaven upon a union which, 

 for ought he knows, may be the grossest violation of 

 immutable laws Heaven-implanted in the constitution 

 of the human race. The friends tender their congratu- 

 lations and wishes of "much joy," when in three cases 

 out of four the conditions are such that a preponder- 

 ance of grief is an inevitable certainty, and "much 

 joy" an utter impossibility. 



There are exceptions to all general rules; but it is 

 a fact of which almost any one may convince himself, 

 that the majority of men and women do not rise much 

 higher than the level reached at marriage. If a young 

 man has no trade then, it is more than probable that he 

 will never be master of one. If he has not fitted him- 

 self for a profession, he will most likely never attain to 

 such a rank in society. He will, in all probability, be 

 a common laborer, living "from hand to mouth," with 

 nothing laid by for a rainy day. 



A wag says that a young couple just married, and 

 for the first time awakened to the full consciousness of 

 the fact that they must provide for themselves or 

 starve, held the following dialogue: Husband.— '^ Well, 

 wife, what are we going to do? How shall we live!" 

 Wife.— ^^ Oh, my dear, we shall get along very well, I 

 am sure; you love me, don't you?" IZ".— "Certainly, 

 dear, but we cannot live on love." TF.— "We can live 

 on bread and water ; so long as we have each other, it 

 doesn't matter much what we have to eat." H.— 

 "That's so, my dear; well, you furnish the bread, and 



