THEIR FIRST YEAR’S MARRIED LIFE. 11 
enter into the state which of all others is, per- 
haps, the sweetest and most natural that birds 
bear one another. You come with your young 
hearts beating with fond affection together, 
with no thought of aught but the happiness 
and comfort of each other. All of life to you 
seems bright and joyous, and the world ap- 
pears as nothing but one vast garden, in which 
you have but to live and enjoy yourselves. 
But it is my duty to inform you before 
I consummate this marriage, that matrimony, 
although often one of the greatest of blessings, 
is too often made one of the most terrible of 
curses. . Many things are requisite to make its 
happiness perfect, but few needed to make its 
sorrows apparent and unbearable. 
Of the former tlie principal are strong affec- 
tions, mutual forbearance with each other’s 
failings, kindliness and generosity of disposi- 
tion, and earnest and perfect faith in the 
strength of, and mutual dependence on, the 
love of each other. 
' To make your wedded lives unhappy, but 
very few things, as I before remarked, are 
