These questions are simple questions, and should in every allowable marriage, admit of but one answer. No father or mother should ever give their consent to companionship, much less to marriage of their daughters, with men whom they have any reason to suppose could not answer these questions unblushingly, and with honest eyes, in the presence of the woman they seek as wife. Dear young woman, you should know, as you value your peace of mind, what the young man really _is_ to whom you plight your troth. What he may _seem_ to be to you, what you have idealized him to be, is not sufficient. You owe it to yourself and to your unborn children, to know what he _really_ is; and if he resents the questioning of your parents, say the “no,” now, rather than live it, in agony, all your after life. Much that might have been said in this chapter I have already said in the chapter on the choice of a husband, and we will not repeat. That there are many young men, noble, true, conscientious and pure in their sterling manhood we know; and for such as these the warnings in this chapter are not written. That there are parents who fully realize the necessity of training their children for parenthood, and have all the way along given line upon line, precept upon precept, toward this training, we all know; but that the number is not greater, we sadly deplore. Young men need to realize that sowing wild oats will never bring a harvest of wheat; and that a bed of thistles will never yield a garland of flowers. Like will produce like, as long as the world stands, and we can never change it. In preparation for fatherhood there is much that the best among young men would wish to change in their lives, and they have this to comfort them; that by painstaking perseverance any resolute person can do very much toward eradicating inborn tendencies, and hereditary evils. Poor soil well enriched and carefully tended, watered with the dew of God’s grace, will bring a marvelous harvest of good things, and transform all future products; while the best of fields, with the wisest of care and tillage in the years past, may grow to weeds and wastefulness in this generation, if neglected. Therefore, while we have much to be grateful for in a good heritage, and that we have a name which, unlike poor little Patsy’s, will wash, yet too much dependence cannot be placed upon this. “Say not that ye have Abraham to your father; I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”