ty, and much more in some cases than in othersbut it should not be allowed to cover more ground than legitimately belongs to it-it cannot be received as an excuse for neglecting all attempts at improvement. While wives have many things to occupy their attention, I am satisfied that few or none are so circumstanced that they cannot devote a portion of their time daily to mental improvement. All who are anxious to cultivate their understandings, will so arrange their affairs, without neglect or injury to any of them, as to secure fre quent opportunities for reading and study. "Other things being equal," says the author of a late work,* "a woman of the highest mental endowments will always be the best housekeeper; for domestic economy is a science that brings into action the qualities of the mind, as well as the graces of the heart." It is not within my province to point out the course of study to be pursued by a wife who is desirous of cultivating her mind. In this she must follow the dictates of her own judgment, and give heed to the advice of her husband, who, if worthy of being her companion, will assist her in a work so truly commendable. I cannot refrain, however, from urging upon her the importance of establishing a well-regulated habit of reading, at such hours as her circumstances will best allow. And let the works which engage her attention not be lovesick novels, or senseless romances, or empty and "Live and let Live." vapid poetry, but publications devoted to the subjects of health, science, morals, religion, and such topics as are in the highest degree calculated to impart useful and practical instruction. TO HUSBANDS AND WIVES. CHAPTER I. UNHAPPINESS IN THE MARRIAGE STATE. "Why should our joys transform to pain? A bond of iron prove? "Tis strange, my friends, the charm that binds At such a loose from love." THE unhappiness which is sometimes manifested by the married, affords a frequent and fruitful theme of remark to those who have eschewed matrimony as a dreaded evil. Every separation between husband and wife, every family quarrel, every instance where those in the marriage state are not perfectly happy, is seized upon both by bachelors and maidens, as a justification of their leading a single life. But before allowing all they would claim from these unfortunate events, it would be well to look into the subject sufficiently far at least, to ascertain whether the evils complained of should be attributed to matrimony, as its legitimate fruits, or whether they are not more properly to be charged to those imperfections of human nature, which pertain to all, whether mar |