How to Become Rich: A Treatise on Phrenology, Choice of Professions and MatrimonyWindsor, William
Science
How to Become Rich: A Treatise on Phrenology, Choice of Professions and Matrimony
Windsor, William
Phrenology
It does not follow that perfect blending of temperamental conditions
will produce a happy marriage. This is the physiological foundation
always of a correct relation, but there are other considerations quite
as likely to produce important modifications. It does not follow from
this law, that a blonde heiress should marry her father's coachman,
though he may be a perfect type of the brunette. We should not advise a
graduate of one of our cosmopolitan universities to marry an
uncultivated country maiden, even though their temperaments were
perfectly balanced. We expect our subjects to exercise common sense in
the application of our advice, and marry with due regard to the purposes
of the union socially, financially and physiologically.
A young gentleman or lady may take my written description of the proper
complementary character, and in any village of two thousand inhabitants
there will presumably be a half dozen eligible persons sufficiently
corresponding to the temperamental description. Our candidate will
consider the claims of the six with probably the following result: He
will reject No. 1, because she is too old; No. 2, because she is too
young; No. 3, because she is diseased; No. 4, because she has
insufficient culture. He may profitably hesitate a year between Nos. 5
and 6, but ultimately prefer No. 6 for reasons which he has
discovered in that time, and marry happily, and with the proud
satisfaction of having married intelligently.
"But," says some objector, "you would have marriage reduced to a matter
of cold calculation. You leave out all sentiment and _love_."
Now, hold on, my friend, and we will see whether that is true or not.
What is this sentiment, this love, which most people seem to think
desirable in matrimony, and which others, we may add, hold in profound
contempt. Love is the impulse of desire toward that which gratifies it.
A young man loves a young woman because he sees something in her
character, her personal beauty, her mental attributes, which gratifies
him. For precisely the same reason the young lady reciprocates the
sentiment. Now the question simply reduces itself to this: Shall this
sentiment, this love, be founded on a complete and accurate knowledge of
what is necessary to the complete gratification of the whole nature, or
shall it be founded upon mere caprice or whim, the gratification of a
mere fragmentary instinct which has never been educated to the
comprehension of its true needs? Ponder on these questions for a few
moments and you will realize that, instead of eliminating the sentiment
of love from the question of matrimonial selection, I have really
introduced you to a grander, broader, better ideal of true love than you
have ever comprehended before.
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