It would be far better for every prospective bride if she suspects that the man who is to be her husband has not been informed in these things in a wholesome way, either herself, or through the intervention of a friend to put into his hands books that will teach him wisely and well these things upon which so much of his happiness depends. I wish it were binding upon every young man before he stands at the marriage altar, to read carefully and painstakingly Dr. Stall’s books for young men and young husbands. With the earnest words and teachings of these books ringing in their hearts they could hardly live careless lives, or make the mistakes which, in ignorance of the great truths he inculcates, they might otherwise do. CHAPTER IV. THE CHOICE OF A HUSBAND. Higher Standards are Being set up in the Choice of a Husband.—Should be Worthy of both Love and Respect.—Love Likely to Idealize the Man.—The Real Characteristics Necessary.—Deficiencies in Character not to be Supplied After Marriage.—The Right to Demand Purity.—Young Men Who “Sow Wild Oats.”—Importance of Good Health.—Weaknesses and Diseases Which Descend from Parents to Children.—The Parents’ Part in Aiding to a Wise Choice.—The Value of the Physician’s Counsel.—One Capable of Supporting Wife and Children.—A Dutiful Son Makes a Good Husband.—Essential Requisites Enumerated.—The Father Reproduced in His Children.—The Equivalents Which the Wife Should bring to her Husband. “Each generation of young men and women comes to the formation of sex union with higher and higher demands for a true marriage, with ever growing needs for companionship. Each generation of men and women need and ask more of each other. A woman is no longer content to have a ‘kind husband’: a man is no longer content to have a patient Griselda.”—CHARLOTTE PERKINS STETSON. “Who weds for love alone may not be wise: Who weds without it angels must despise. Love and respect together must combine, To render marriage holy and divine: And lack of either, sure as fate, destroys Continuation of the nuptial joys, And brings regret and gloomy discontent To put to rout each tender sentiment.”—ELLA WHEELER WILCOX. What shall be the ruling characteristics of the man I shall marry? is the question that every young girl has answered long before she may be conscious of it herself. As one and another of her acquaintances marry, she mentally concludes that this and that trait which the new bridegroom possesses, would not do at all were she the bride. And so year after year the mental, moral, and physical make-up of the man she is to choose, grows into completeness, as this imaginary being is shaped to her liking.