The women of Christian countries generally nurse their children about one year; though many exceed that time. Among the Catholics and Lutherans, the ceremony of baptism is usually performed privately at the house of the minister, soon after the birth of the child, because they are in haste to administer a rite which they deem necessary for salvation; but other Protestant sects have their children baptized in church, after divine service. The parents stand beside each other when their child is offered for baptism. The father takes the infant from its mother’s arms, and presents it to the priest, who sprinkles it with water, and bestows the baptismal name. Some people request several of their friends to stand as godfathers and godmothers at the baptism of their children. Wealthy relations are very apt to have this compliment paid them, because they are expected to make the infant a present, and bound by a promise at the altar to take some interest in its welfare. In Holland, it is customary, so long as the mother keeps her room, to treat the children of the house and even of the neighborhood, with sugar-plums, which are rough if the babe is a boy, and smooth if a girl. In Russia, all married people who call to congratulate a friend for having become a mother are expected to slip a piece of money under her pillow, the wealthy usually give a ducat. It is uncommon for European women to study medicine for the purpose of attending upon their own sex, in seasons of illness; but in some cases it is practised with great success. Throughout Christendom, the law allows but one wife. Licentiousness abounds in all cities; it is not confined to a class of women avowedly depraved, but sometimes lurks beneath the garb of decency, and even of elegance. In villages there is a better state of things, because the influences of rural life are more pure, and young people generally form marriages of inclination. Even in thrifty Scotland, and phlegmatic Holland, matches of interest are common only among the wealthier classes. European laws allow widows to marry again, and they very frequently do so, without the slightest imputation of impropriety; but in all nations, she who remains in perpetual widowhood is involuntarily regarded with peculiar respect. In some parts of Illyria and Dalmatia, if the bride or bridegroom have been previously married, but especially if the bride be a widow, the populace follow the wedding party, as they proceed to church, keeping up a continual din with frying-pans and shovels, and loading them with all manner of abuse; sometimes they gather round the house, and make hideous noises all night long, unless the newly married pair purchase exemption by the distribution of wine.