assumption of a right which does not exist, it is impossible but that real affection should dictate the mutual development of much, if not all, which could interest the feelings of either party.

Thus, there need be no positive concealment, for that is the last thing I would recommend; but an open, honest, straightforward way of acting, as if each mind depended upon the other, less for assistance in its own sphere, than for perfect propriety of feeling, and constant adherence to principle, in the sphere to which it more properly belonged.

It is upon a right observance of distinctions such as these, that the dignity and usefulness of the marriage state in a great degree depend-from remembering that principle must ever be the foundation of action; but that the open disclosure of every act and purpose, must ever be a matter of choice; and if regarded as such, there will be no doubt but mutual love will supply information enough to satisfy the most unbounded curiosity. Thus it has never appeared to me, that the free agency which a judicious wife should be permitted to enjoy in her own department, had any thing to do with concealment; any more than that the transactions in one public office should be said to be concealed from another, because each had its separate rooms and officers. So far from this, I should rather say that a generous nature, and especially that of woman, when implicitly trusted to, and made to feel that trust, will, from a sense of grateful satisfaction, involuntarily disclose its every plan, purpose, and act, not even throwing a veil over its many failures and short-comings in the way of discretion or duty. Indeed, so powerful in its influence upon the female character, is this feeling of being trusted, that I have often thought if man could know the heart of woman better, he might almost guide it to his pleasure, by simply using this master-key to her gratitude and generosity. But I must not forget, that my business is with the behavior of wives to their husbands, not with that far easier subject in a female hand, the behavior of husbands to their wives.

Among other points of consideration, comprehended under the general head of confidence towards wives, there is one of such paramount importance to the rectitude of woman's conduct in her domestic affairs, that were this one consideration all which had to be taken into account, it would of itself be well worth every endeavor to ensure so desirable an end. I mean the open communication of the state of the husband's pecuniary circumstances to his wife; for I can scarcely imagine any thing more congenial to the best feelings of a faithful wife, than to be made the partaker of all the interest and enjoyment her husband derives from prosperity and success; while, on the other hand, there is no greater cruelty, than that of allowing a woman of good principles and right feelings, to go on ignorantly conducting her household expenses, in a manner inconsistent with the real state of his affairs, when they are in any degree depressed or involved in difficulty.

Yet how often has this been the case! How often has an honest-hearted woman had to bear the charge of having been in reality dishonest to her husband's creditors, when ignorance, not want of principle, was the cause! Besides which, how much may be done by domestic economy, and by a consistently meek and unpretending deportment, if not exactly to avert the calamity of a ruined house, at least to alleviate the wounded and bitter feelings which naturally arise among those who are the greatest sufferers.

The present day is one which claims peculiar attention to this subject; and if from any fault in the wife, from any betrayal of her husband's secrets, any artifice or trickery practised against himself, any assumption of unbecoming importance on her part, any want of consideration for his feelings, or foolish and presumptuous interference with matters peculiarly his own-if from any of these causes, she has shut herself out from his confidence, now, before it shall be too late, is the time to begin a new system of behavior, for which she may eventually be rewarded by being admitted into his bosom-counsels, and thus allowed to share, not only in all the

great chain which connects together all spiritual influences; and she who is guilty of falsehood, must necessarily be alone; alone, for she has no sympathy of feeling with the beautiful creation around her, of which it has truly been said, that "Nature never deceives ;"-alone, for in that higher world, where all her secret thoughts and acts are registered, its very light is truth;-alone, for she has voluntarily become a stranger, a suspected thing, an enemy, to that one friend in whose bosom she might have found shelter and repose.

It is a fact which scarcely needs to be repeated, that the closer the intimacy, and the more important the trust, the greater is the individual injury, and consequently the violation of personal feeling, when that trust is abused. Thus when the child is first made to understand that it has been deceived by its mother, the very life of its little soul seems for a moment to be quenched. When the father finds that his prodigal son has but returned to take advantage of his affection and credulity, his wounded spirit sinks, and his weary heart is broken. But when the husband looks with earnest eyes into the countenance whose beauty was once his sunshine; when memory flies back, and brings again her plighted vow, with all its treasury of truth; when he thinks of that fond heart which seemed to cling to his in all the guileless innocence of unsophisticated youth-oh, it is horrible "to be discarded thence," by the dark demon of distrust, perpetually reminding him, that the bright and sunny tide of early love, upon which he trusted all the riches of his soul, is but a smiling and deceitful ocean, whose glassy surface at once reflects the hues of heaven, and conceals the depths of hell.

It is impossible to speak in language adequate to the importance of this cause, for by failure in this one point, the whole fabric of connubial affection, which might otherwise be made so influential in the promotion of every kind of good, becomes a heap of ruins, as disgraceful to the deceiver as unsightly to the deceived.

Yet, after all, is not the former the greater sufferer of the two? Is it not more miserable to be thus separated from all community of thought and feeling, either earthly or divine, than to be the mere dupe of treachery or guile? Yes, and she feels it so, and out of her very desolation, sometimes awakes the voice of penitence, making confession of some individual act of transgression, and craving, with all the humility of utter wretchedness, to be reinstated in confidence and esteem. But this cannot be. The thing is impossible. The silver cord which has been loosed, no single act of human will can tie again. The golden bowl which has been broken, no single effort of human kindness can restore.

But may not years bring back the confidence so wantonly abused? Oh, blessed thought! Begin, then, a new life. Let truth be the principle of every thought, the echo of every word, the foundation of every act. Truth is invincible-it must-it will prevail. Beautiful as the morning it will arise; glorious as the noonday it will shine forth; calm as the evening it will be followed by repose; and thus each day may feel its gladdening and invigorating influence; while every flower that grows beneath its ray will shed a charm upon the path of life.

But if the regaining of confidence after it has been lost, be an object of such immeasurable importance to attain, what must be the happiness of her who has never lost this treasure? who has borne through all change, and all trial, a true and upright heart towards her husband, who, though he may have sometimes mistaken, and sometimes blamed her, has still been able to say, even when appearances were least favorable, and when perhaps he was most in need of the consolation derived from reposing implicit confidence in her sincerity

"Thou art my true and honorable wife,
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit this sad heart."

What, then, if she has sometimes suffered when it has seemed as if a little artifice would have made all things easy, that suffering has

been in a noble cause. And then the reward! -the conscience void of offence towards that one being to whom she can be nothing, if not true-the fearless look-the unfaltering tone -the steady hand-the soul that might be mirrored forth before him-the hopes, the fears, that might be his--the workings of a busy mind, whose minutest plans might all at any moment be laid bare before his scrutinizing eye and onward, into the far future, not a dream but he might know it all-and onward yet the blessed consciousness that, should the secrets of all hearts be read on the great day of everlasting doom, there would be one whose glance, and that the most familiar, would not detect a single act or thought of her whole life inimical to his interests, or such as might not have been revealed to him before.

Nor is the mere escape from the uncertainty, anxiety, and pain, entailed upon the habitual practice of falsehood, all that has to be considered. A brighter picture in the page of truth, is that in which we see portrayed in living hues, the enjoyment of unburdening a full heart, and laying open its secret treasury of thought and feeling to him whose earthly portion, whether it be one of weal or wo, must inevitably be blended with our own. And it is from this very identity that the practice and the love of truth becomes more important, as a moral obligation in the married state, than in all others. Indeed the perfect truth towards each other of individuals thus united, is as necessary to their welfare and their happiness, as the union and concurrence of the different members of the human frame, is to the usefulness and integrity of the whole.

and the power of this great attribute in the Divine government, we have the still higher satisfaction of doing our humble part to glorify the God of truth.

CHAPTER VI.

THE LOVE OF MARRIED LIFE.

IF, in the foregoing pages, I have spoken of the married state as one of the trial of principle, rather than of the fruition of hope; and if, upon the whole, my observations should appear to have assumed a discouraging, rather than a cheering character, it has arisen, in the first place, from my not having reached, until now, that part of the subject in which the advantages of this connection are fully developed; and if, in the second place, I must plead gulity to the charge of desiring to throw some hindrances in the way of youthful aspiration, it has simply been from observing amongst young people generally, how much greater is the tendency to make the experiment for themselves, than to prepare themselves for the experiment.

If, therefore, I have selected words of warning, in preference to those of an opposite nature, it has been because the tide of popular feeling, especially amongst young women, is already sufficiently strong in favor of matrimonial alliances; while the disposition to ensure all the advantages of such an alliance, appears far beyond what bears any proportion to the desire evinced for submitting to that discipline, by which alone they can be rendered permanent.

That this disproportion betwixt expectation and reality, arises from ignorance, rather than any other cause, I am fully prepared to believe

circumstances of human life, of the operation of cause and effect in human affairs, and of the relative duty of human beings one towards another.

The numbers who have failed in this way to realize in their experience of married life,

the fair picture which imagination painted before it was tried, it would be useless to attempt to enumerate; as well as to tell how many have thrown the blame of their disappointment upon situation or circumstances upon husband, servants, friends, or relatives -when the whole has rested with themselves, and has arisen solely out of a want of adaptation in their views and habits to the actual requirements of the new state of existence upon which they have entered.

That this state itself is not capable of the greatest amount of happiness which is expected from it, I should be sorry to deny ; and and all I would attempt to prove in the way of discouragement is, that its happiness will often prove to be of a different kind from what has been anticipated. All that has been expected to be enjoyed from the indulgence of selfishness, must then of necessity be left out of our calculations, with all that ministers to the pride of superiority, all that gratifies the love of power, all that converts the woman into the heroine, as well as all that renders her an object of general interest and attraction.

It may very naturally be asked, what then remains? I answer, the love of married life; and in this answer is embodied the richest treasure which this earth affords. All other kinds of love hold by a very slender tenure the object of supreme regard; but here the actual tie is severed only by the stroke of death, while mutual interest, instead of weakening, renders it more secure. The love of a parent for a child, natural, and pure, and holy as it is, can never bind that child beyond a certain period within its influence; while the love of a child for a parent must necessarily be interrupted in the course of nature, by the dissolution of its earthly hold. The love of a brother or a sister must ever be ready to give place to dearer claims; and that of a friend, though "very precious" while it lasts, has no real security for its continuance. And yet all these, according to the laws which regulate our being, in their own place and measure, supply the natural craving of the human heart for something beyond itself,

which it may call its own, and in the certainty of possessing which, it may implicitly repose.

Nor is that sage philosophy, which would deny the existence of this craving, or make light of its requirements. There is no moody misanthrope, however solitary the lot he chooses for himself, but cherishes within the secret of his soul, some yearning thought of how he might have been, and could have, loved. There is no agitator of public movements, hardened and sharpened by the fierce contact of contending interests, but seeks some chosen spot of rest, where the cold armor of his selfishness may be thrown off, before that being whose hand has been accustomed to pour into his breast the balm of sympathy and love. There is no outcast from the holier walks of life, no victim of its cruel vices, no maligner of religion and its sacred institutions, but acknowledges, at times, a secret impulse to cling to something more kind, more gentle, and less degraded than himself.

Nor is it only in our human sympathies that this craving is developed. The tame bird, or the pet lamb, is folded to the solitary bosom of the neglected child, with as intense a feeling, as if it knew the thoughts of tenderness pent up and aching there. The miser, whose grovelling soul is alike at enmity with God and man, enters his narrow cell, and, calling to his side his faithful dog, smiles on the unconscious animal with a look which at once reveals the history of his wasted heart. And strange to say, it is sometimes even thus with ambition, and with many of those aims and occupations which absorb man's life. They are followed, not for the results they bring, so much as for the promises they offer for the vague hopes they hold out, that their entire accomplishment will satisfy the cravings of an insatiable soul.

But, perhaps, more than in any other case, is it thus with literary fame, in the pursuit of which how many are urged on by a strong, though it may seem to some a fanciful impression, that the voice of feeling which has failed to find an echo in its own immediate