[Illustration:  LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES DEMAND PHYSICAL EXAMINATION.  WHY NOT MATRIMONY?]

5.  WHOM TO CHOOSE FOR A HUSBAND.—­The choice of a husband requires the coolest judgment and the most vigilant sagacity.  A true union based on organic law is happiness, but let all remember that oil and water will not mix:  the lion will not lie down with the lamb, nor can ill-assorted marriages be productive of aught but discord.

  “Let the woman take
  An elder than herself, so wears she to him—­
  So sways she, rules in her husband’s heart.”

Look carefully at the disposition.—­See that your intended Spouse is kind-hearted, generous, and willing to respect the opinions of others, though not in sympathy with them.  Don’t marry a selfish tyrant who thinks only of himself.

6.  BE CAREFUL.—­Don’t marry an intemperate man with a view of reforming him.  Thousands have tried it and failed.  Misery, sorrow and a very hell on earth have been the consequences of too many such generous undertakings.

7.  THE TRUE AND ONLY TEST which any man should look for in woman is modesty in demeanor before marriage, absence both of assumed ignorance and disagreeable familiarity, and a pure and religious frame of mind.  Where these are present, he need not doubt that he has a faithful and a chaste wife.

8.  MARRYING FIRST COUSINS is dangerous to offspring.  The observation is universal, the children of married first cousins are too often idiots, insane, clump-footed, crippled, blind, or variously diseased.  First cousins are always sure to impart all the hereditary disease in both families to their children.  If both are healthy there is less danger.

9.  DO NOT CHOOSE ONE TOO GOOD, or too far above you, lest the inferior dissatisfying the superior, breed those discords which are worse than the trials of a single life.  Don’t be too particular; for you might go farther and fare worse.  As far as you yourself are faulty, you should put up with faults.  Don’t cheat a consort by getting one much better than you can give.  We are not in heaven yet, and must put up with their imperfections, and instead of grumbling at them, be glad they are no worse; remembering that a faulty one is a great deal better than none, if he loves you.

10.  MARRYING FOR MONEY.—­Those who seek only the society of those who can boast of wealth will nine times out of ten suffer disappointment.  Wealth cannot manufacture true love nor money buy domestic happiness.  Marry because you love each other, and God will bless your home.  A cottage with a loving wife is worth more than a royal palace with a discontented and unloving queen.