AUGUST 427 



That clever old French wit Chamfort, when he was 

 reproached by a lady for not caring about women, 

 answered : ' Je puis dire sur elles ce que disait Madame 

 de C. sur les enfants : " J'ai dans ma t&te un fils dont je 

 n'ai jamais pu accoucher " ; j'ai dans Fesprit une femme 

 comme il y en a peu, qui me preserve des femmes comme 

 il y en a beaucoup ; j'ai bien des obligations a cette femme- 

 la.' I believe this kind of feeling keeps many, especially 

 cautious men, bachelors. This is a mistake, even from 

 their own point of view, as these are the very men who 

 are apt to fall victims to strong fancies when it is least 

 wise for them to do so ; and when they are on the borders 

 of old age Nature often has her revenge. 



I quote the Chamfort story to remind girls that good 

 and sensible men require certain qualities in a woman 

 whom they are thinking of marrying, and the reason why 

 ordinary women are wise to consider twice about refusing 

 to marry young is that perhaps that gift of youth is the 

 only real thing they will ever have to give a man. When 

 a dead level of mediocrity is reached, think how large is 

 a man's choice, in England especially ! What is there in 

 a woman of from thirty to thirty-five, who has knocked 

 about the world, flirted and amused herself, given and 

 taken all she could get, that should particularly make a 

 man desire to marry her ? Her freshness is gone, and her 

 want of wisdom is often sadly apparent. 



We all know ' Punch's ' advice to a man about to marry : 

 ' Don't.' My advice is exactly the contrary. I say : Do, 

 and don't wait till love of your bachelorhood becomes too 

 strong a custom. But except when very young, in which 

 case the wild oats will probably be sown in an undignified 

 way at the end of life, don't marry exclusively for what is 

 called love. Let the heart and the head go together. 

 For a woman I think it is wise and often right to marry 

 a man out of a sort of gratitude ; it rarely answers for a 



