_Advice on Marriage._--An Athenian who was hesitating whether to give his daughter in marriage to a man of worth with a small fortune, or to a rich man who had no other recommendation, went to consult Themistocles on the subject. "I would bestow my daughter," said Themistocles, "upon a man without money, rather than upon money without a man." --_Arvine._ 1285 Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards. 1286 ON A WEDDING DAY. Cling closer, closer, life to life, Cling closer, heart to heart; The time will come, my own wed wife, When you and I must part! Let nothing break our band but Death, For in the world above 'Tis the breaker Death that soldereth Our ring of wedded love. --_G. Massie._ 1287 A SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT. A man of experience, declares that men, like plants, adapt themselves to conditions. To illustrate his theory, he told of two men, one of whom said to the other, at a pleasantly critical period: "Do you think two can live as cheaply as one?" "Before my marriage I thought they could," was the guarded reply. "And afterward?" anxiously. "Afterward I found they had to." 1288 MARRIAGE,--CHOICE IN. _Boswell_: "Pray, sir, do you not suppose that there are fifty women in the world, with any one of whom a man may be as happy, as with any one woman in particular?" _Johnson_: "Ay, sir, fifty thousand." _Boswell_: "Then, sir, you are not of opinion with some who imagine that certain men and certain women are made for each other, and that they cannot be happy if they miss their counterparts." _Johnson_: "To be sure not, sir. I believe marriages would in general be as happy, and often more so, if they were all made by the Lord Chancellor, upon a due consideration of the characters and circumstances, without the parties having any choice in the matter." _Boswell's Johnson, p. 283._ --_Samuel Johnson._ 1289 Choose not alone a proper mate, But proper time to marry. --_Cowper._ 1290 When a man and woman are married their romance ceases and their history commences. 1291 Wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared been To public feasts, where meet a public rout, Where they that are without, would fain go in, And they that are within, would fain go out. --_Sir J. Davis._ 1292 Marriage somewhat resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they cannot be separated, often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them. --_S. Smith._ 1293