I explained this to the girl, but it did no good. She said I was "sentimental and not at all practical." I confessed to a little sentiment on the subject of wedlock, and refrained from adding that I should rather be truthful than practical, but I told her that, if she had accepted her lover, conditionally, her course was entirely honorable, and then, to relieve the _heaviness_ of the conversation, I repeated these lines, which she laughed at very moderately indeed: "I, Pegg Pudding, promise thee, William Crickett, That I will hold thee for mine own dear lily, Whilst I have a head in mine eye and a face on my nose, A mouth in my tongue and all that a woman should have, From the crown of my foot to the sole of my head." The attention of my guest flagged a little and, when I completed the stanza, she confessed she was thinking of a Philadelphia girl whose resolution she much admired. During a sojourn in Europe, this girl had refused sixty-five offers of marriage--I hope I have the number exactly right--having determined to marry no one of lower rank than a prince. I sped my guest to New York and Europe, and after her departure no ghost needed to come from the grave to tell me why marriage is so often a failure. We hear this thing and that thing given as a reason. Responsibility enough is to be laid at the door of men, but let women confess a share in the desecration of the sacred ordinance. Is it possible to think of a marriage resulting well that does not begin in truth, and continue in truth? Let truth, at least, be counted an essential. After truth, let the candidate consider the necessity of sacrifice. Present-day girls cannot claim much more of that element than boys. If modern women have a hobby more general than another, it must be the development of their individuality. This is a fine thing, but let those who are over-zealous on this point remain single or remain rational, for it is scarcely fair to develop one's individuality to the extinction of another person's rights. To speak the truth, a proper individuality is never oblivious to others. Women would be learned and wise, but they fail to see that the very richest return of wisdom comes from putting forth their full strength _where it is due_. God has provided that recompense for all dutiful activity, and it often happens that the circumstances that would seem to retard mental development are its greatest stimuli, and the saving of the much-cherished individuality is accomplished by self-forgetfulness. Marriage is one of the apparent interruptions to intellectual progress--especially a woman's. We often hear of the fine career a certain person might have had, unmarried. Such talk signifies nothing.