LOVE IN A COTTAGE. Where love reigns, there is joy--happiness unalloyed. It is a state that most hope for and anticipate, to realize some time, or some where. No one craves misery as something desirable to possess as a luxury. Happiness is unlike a garment, that can be put on or off at pleasure. It is like good seed that must be planted in the proper soil before it will germinate, before its fruit can be plucked and enjoyed. So we must not only have the seed of love, but the soil within ourselves, if we hope or expect to enjoy happiness. The germ must be buried down deep, and be tenderly cared for and nourished, until it shall have become thoroughly rooted and grounded, until every fiber becomes electrified with its all-pervading spirit; like a living spring, ever bubbling up, ever overflowing. A person who is entirely destitute of this living principle cannot be happy, cannot find happiness. They may search for it as long as they may live, and they never will find it. It cannot be borrowed or bought with money. It is never for sale. Men who count their wealth by the millions, cannot purchase it, and they are poor without it, poorer than the humblest cottager who works for his daily bread, and is thankful that he can earn it with his hands. Persons destitute of all resources of happiness within themselves, are utterly unable to add to the happiness of a single individual, while they sap the enjoyment of all with whom they are associated. It always depresses and saddens the natural buoyancy of one's feelings and enjoyments, to transact business of any kind with one of this class of unfortunates. It is like a chill from an iceberg, to meet an unhappy, discontented, ill-humored, unsatisfied, unsatisfying mortal. A person of this class has no right to expect or demand from others, what they cannot return in some way, as an equivalent. Debit and credit is the universal law by which all the business of this busy world is transacted. It is equally the law of justice, of equity, of business integrity. Any business man who at tempts to violate this law of equity, is judged to be dishonest. There are obligations of greater magnitude than any known to ordinary business transactions; obligations that cannot be adjudicated upon a money basis. The value of an individual acquaintance, personal worth, is based solely upon our ability to reciprocate favors received. No amount of money consideration can cancel debts incurred of this class, or be its equivalent. If we have nothing to give, we have no right to expect. With a professional beggar, it is always “give, give, give." Who wants to be placed in a position where he will be constantly importuned, where it is all demand and no return. If a young lady is the victim of an unhappy disposition, continually fretting at every little thing of daily occurrence, fretting at every one she meets, even magnifying trifling matters to mountains, vexed and ever annoyed because she cannot load down every one she meets with her griefs and tribulations, she sours on everybody and everything. A young lady of this characteristic disposition, if married to an angel from heaven, would be dissatisfied, and he would wish he was back where he came from. Any young lady who has not resources within herself to enjoy every day life, through storm as well as sunshine, has not the first requisite necessary to make herself happy in the married relation, or to make a husband feel that he had secured a priceless jewel as a wife. We pity the man who may be so unfortunate as to be united to a young lady who cannot throw a single ray of sunshine along the shadowy pathway of life. There are times in the life of many a business man, when all looks dark and gloomy as a starless night; when he trembles at every step, not knowing which way to turn, for fear that the next move may be the last. A single ray of light, by a word of encouragement to cheer him up, will be a talisman to stimulate his flagging energies, and give strength to his faltering footsteps, when ready to halt and about to give up in despair. Many a man has taken up the battle of life with fresh courage by the good words of cheer from a loving and sympathetic companion, and financial ruin has been averted, and the home secured from despoliation when in peril. Hundreds of men have been rescued from shipwreck of their fortunes by a wife clinging closely to the husband, and in word and deed, lovingly, confidingly, carrying a large share of a great burden, which the husband could not carry alone, and which was crushing him to death. The value of a good wife rests not in her physical powers of endurance, but in the force of her inspiring words. She is truly the angel of the household." COURTSHIP. INTRODUCTORY. We have no wish or desire to make any one unhappy, or to cause them to anticipate unhappiness, by anything we may say or do; but it is our earnest wish and purpose to give such advice in season, to those who have not already become settled in life, as will, if heeded, lead to the wisest course in the choice of a life partner, thereby securing the fullest amount of enjoyment, and all the happiness attainable in the married state. One of the first and all-important requisites necessary to enjoy life under any circumstances, should reside within the individual himself. If you are utterly destitute of any resources of your own, by which you may promote your own enjoyment, and are compelled to seek it from others, you are exceedingly unfortunate. You may reasonably anticipate trouble--all you can bear, and more than you may think you ought to carry, and that Providence is exceedingly unkind to you. We occasionally see a child who possesses this peculiar and unfortunate characteristic. It must be continually entertained, or it is cross and out of humor. It seems to be utterly devoid of any power or disposition to enjoy life in a reasonable manner. This trait is often the fault of doting parents. If a child grows up with this unfortunate lacking, it will be most likely to suffer from it through life. Persons who are living under such a burden, are their own greatest enemy, and a continual trial to all who are associated with them. Unless they can conquer this habit, their pathway will be surely a hard one to travel. Each year will only add to the roughness of the way, and life's burdens will increase as the years roll on. Friends will grow fewer and less sympathetic. No one chooses the society or companionship of a person of this class. We all crave and need cheering words. The way is strewn with roses to only a precious few. No one goes down into a dark and dismal cellar, or up into a musty garret, for the pleasure it affords. Most people prefer light and cheerful rooms-welcome with the sunshine and aroma of flowers. We enjoy meeting our friends who are of a happy and jovial disposition-full of sunshine. It makes us feel better; it adds to our happiness, to our success, and softens all life's trials. "A merry heart doth good like a medicine." Yes, it is better than all the healing skill of the most skillful physician; yea, better than all the materia medica of the world combined. Hundreds of lives have been rescued from the very jaws of grim death, by the radiant, sun-lit countenances of these "ministering angels." Often we hear an invalid remark, "If only such a one would come to see me, I should be better; I should get well." If some other persons called, it would shorten their days. Long faces and doleful tones are but the advancing shadows of that most unwelcome messenger-death. Some objects reflect light; others only absorb it. "We make the light through which we see To hear the lark sing, we must be No sensible young lady will marry a man on three days' or three months' acquaintance, and in no case secretly. When a young man asks a young lady to wed him, with the request that it shall not be made public, cut his acquaintance at once, for you may be sure that there is a reason for the request he makes, and that reason will not bear investigation for a moment. He is not the man you want for a life partner. If the young man is ashamed to let his friends know who he has married for a wife, she will most assuredly be ashamed to own him for a husband. There are other considerations which the young man may have for desiring a secret marriage, which might be very damaging to his reputation if known. No reliable young man will ask for a secret marriage. If he is a true man, he will be delighted to see the wedding well written up in the newspapers, and the highest compliment paid to the "happy pair," and to the bride especially. We don't believe in having a grand spread on such occasions, with cards sent out by the hundreds, and a great crowd, with everybody made uncomfortable. The presence of a few intimate friends would be more satisfactory, and pleasanter every way. If, however, the dower is light, and an array of pres ents are needed to commence housekeeping, no doubt but what handsomely engraved wedding cards would draw the " spoons," if nothing more. With no friends for witnesses, to apply at a justice's office to have the marriage ceremony performed in the presence of loafers who may be lounging about, does not impress us as being the best place or mode of procedure. It may be cheap, if economy is the consideration, for the ceremony is marked with brevity, and the fees are in proportion. The Dutch Justice in Illinois was a model, and fills the bill according to law. And this is the way he practiced in his court, when two simple persons stood in his presence to have the nuptial knot tied. It might be styled a short form, good for thirty days, more or less. The parties are requested to join hands. The justice says to the bridegroom: "You takes this woman to be your wife?” "Yaw." To the bride: "You takes this man to be your husband?" "Yaw." 66 Married; fee, two dollar." The married couple sit down while the certificate of marriage is being filled out. There were no congratulations. The justice didn't kiss the bride, the husband didn't kiss his wife, and the loafers didn't feel like kissing without an example or an invitation. So the bride had no kiss. She didn't feel satisfied, and asked if that was all there was to it; she thought it was very short. The justice said, "Yaw; that and nothing more." DEACON JONES COURTSHIP. Second-hand courtships and marriages we have little to say about. If old experienced hands get "sold," it is because they have not learned wisdom from past experiences, and need further time. The courtship of "ye olden time" was certainly a great saving in pineknots and tallow candles. Deacon Jones was a widower. He was a man of business, and needed a wife immediately. He had no time to fool around among the marriageable females of the parish, thus creating a general commotion with them. He settled the matter in his own mind first, whom he would pop the question to straight. Early one morning Deacon Jones mounted his old gray mare, and rode over to Widow Snow's. Without going through any dress parade with his one-horse circus, to show off his equestrianship, or his agility by dismounting, he rode square up to the front door of Widow Snow's residence. Ignoring door bells and brass knockers, in a |