THE BRIDAL TOUR.

The honeymoon of repose, exempt from all claims of society, is now prescribed by the dictates of common sense and fashion, and the same arbiters unite in condemning the harrassing bridal tour.  It is no longer de rigueur to maintain any secrecy as to their plans for traveling, when a newly married couple depart upon a tour.

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CHAPTER XVIII.

Home Life and Etiquette.

Home is the woman’s kingdom, and there she reigns supreme.  To embellish that home, to make happy the lives of her husband and the dear ones committed to her trust, is the honored task which it is the wife’s province to perform.  All praise be to her who so rules and governs in that kingdom, that those reared beneath her roof “shall rise up and call her blessed.”

A HOME.

After marriage one of the first requirements for happiness is a home.  This can seldom be found in a boarding house or at a hotel, and not always beneath the parental roof of either husband or wife.  It will oftenest be found in a house or even a cottage apart from the immediate association of relatives or friends, acquaintances or strangers, and here husband and wife may begin in reality, that new life of which they have had fond dreams; and upon their own actions must depend their future welfare.

HOME COMPANIONSHIP.

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Husband and wife should remember, when starting out upon their newly wedded life, that they are to be life companions, that the affection they have possessed and expressed as lovers must ripen into a life-long devotion to one another’s welfare and happiness, that the closest friendship must be begotten from their early love, and that each must live and work for the other.  They must seek to be congenial companions to each other, so that every hour they pass together will be mutually enjoyable.  They should aim to have the same tastes so that what one enjoys will be alike enjoyable to the other, and what is distasteful to one shall be no less so to the other.  Each should yield in matters where it is right to yield, and be firm only where duty is concerned.  With a firm trust in one another they should ever abide, that each may say to the world, “I possess one on whose character and heart I can lean as upon a rock.”

CONDUCT OF HUSBAND AND WIFE.

Let neither ever deceive the other, or do anything to shake the other’s confidence, for once deceived, the heart can never wholly trust again.  Fault-finding should only be done by gentle and mild criticism, and then with loving words and pleasant looks.  Make allowances for one another’s weaknesses, and at the same time endeavor to mutually repress them.  For the sake of mutual improvement the husband and wife should receive and give corrections to one another in a spirit of kindness, and in doing so they will prepare themselves for the work God gives the parents of training lives for usefulness here and hereafter.  Their motto should be “faithful unto death in all things,” and they must exercise forbearance with each other’s peculiarities.