A CHAPTER FOR YOUNG WOMEN 479 



band is worth marrying. There are a great many 

 excellent men in the world, but probably by far the 

 great majority of husbands are not worth marrying. 

 Some years ago we were stopping for a few weeks at 

 a fashionable boarding-house in Boston. As we were 

 preparing to leave, the young woman in charge of the 

 dining-room, having learned of our connection with a 

 medical institution in the West, desired, us to apply for 

 a position in it for her. As we had been greatly pleased 

 with her efficient management of the work she had in 

 charge, we were strongly inclined to endeavor to make 

 arrangements to employ her services, and oifered her, 

 by way of encouragement, some remark to that effect, 

 to which she replied, "I suppose I ought to state to you 

 that I have an incumbrance." 



''What sort of an incumbrance!" 



" Wliy, don't you understand? I have a husband." 



We found that she was indeed incumbered by a 

 good-for-nothing husband, which fact prevented our 

 engaging her services; and undoubtedly the same in- 

 cumbrance has been directly in the way of her getting 

 on in the world ever since. 



There are plenty of women in the world who are 

 capable of great service to society in various callings, 

 who are handicapped in the most effectual manner by 

 incumbrances of the same sort. If you have an ambi- 

 tion to do anything in the world, or to be anything 

 more than a plodding character in the tide of human 

 life, see to it that the man whom you are to marry is 

 one who is competent to aid you in the attainment of 

 nobility and usefulness, instead of being an "incum- 

 brance" and a hindrance. 



2. Make yourself worthy of a good husband. Study 

 the arts of housekeeping and home-making. Give more 



