Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 May 1885 — The Marriage Life. [ARTICLE]

The Marriage Life.

The marriage life, says Sir Richard Steele, is always an insipid, a vexatious or a happy condition. The first is when two people of no genius or taste for themselves meet, upon such a settlement as has been thought reasonable by parents and conveyancers, from an exact valuation of the land and cash of both parties. In this case the young lady’s person is no more regarded than the house and improvements m the purchase of an estate; but she goes with her fortune rather than her fortune with her. These make up the crowd or vulgar of the rich, and fill up the lumber of the human race, without beneficence toward those below them or respect to those above them. The vexatious life arises from a conjunction of two people of quick taste and resentment, put together for reasons well known to their friends, in which especial care is taken to avoid (what they think the chief of' evils) poverty, and insure them riches, with every evil besides. These good people live in a constant constraint before company and too great familiarity alone. Whan they are within observation they fret at each other’s carriage and behavior ; when alone they revile each other’s person and conduct. The happy marriage is where two persons meet and voluntarily make choice of each other without principally regarding or neglecting the circumstances of fortune or beauty. These may still live in spite of adversity or sickness; the former we may in some measure defend ourselves from; the other is the portion of our very make.