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Dr. Courtney’s Guide
TO
Happy Marriage.
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PUBLISHED BY
A. B. COURTNEY,
671 Tremont Street, Boston.
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MARRIAGE GUIDE.
The Newly Wed.
We will suppose you have read and profitedby the excellent suggestions contained in anarticle published in a previous issue of thislibrary, under the head of “How to Woo, Winand Wed.” You have succeeded in winningthe object of your affections, and have set sailupon the sea of matrimony. It is often calleda troublous sea. Such indeed it proves intruth to be for those who embark upon it notfully prepared for the voyage. Do you really,married or unmarried, know the full meaningof the word marriage. It is something farmore serious than a mere civil contract or religiousceremony. These are only the marksof outward show. There is a good deal behindthese—a good deal that you ought to know,and of which, perchance, you are ignorant.The aim of this article is to give some practicaladvice to those who have already enteredinto the bonds of matrimony, and it will not, itis hoped, come amiss to those about to marry,but who have not yet taken the step that leadsto misery or bliss. “Marriage,” says Selden,“is a desperate thing; the frogs in Æsop wereextremely wise; they had a great mind to somewater, but they would not leap into the well,because they could not get out again.” Wouldthat most of us possessed the wisdom of thefabled frogs.
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Purpose of Marriage.
Marriage ought to be consummated as theresult of mutual love and esteem, and not forthe purpose of simply gratifying the desires ofour lower nature. This last consideration is, itmust be acknowledged, a controlling one witha great many people, and marriages contractedin this manner are not generally, and cannothope to be, happy ones. The sacredness of themarriage relation ought never to be violated.We must not forget that we are rational beingswith a will to withstand the weaknesses of ouranimal natures.
Happy and Unhappy Marriages.
A happy marriage is without doubt the idealstate of living, the end for which mankind hasalways striven, while an unhappy marriage isa veritable hell on earth. Examples of bothof these states need not be given. We seethem every day. To one who reads the dailypapers regularly with particular note of therecords of divorces, assaults of drunken o