*
Marriage is of so much use to women, opens out to her so
much more of life, and puts her in the way of so much more
freedom and usefulness, that, whether she marry ill or
well, she can hardly miss some benefit. It is true,
however, that some of the merriest and most genuine of
women are old maids; and that those old maids, and wives
who are unhappily married, have often most of the true
motherly touch.
*
The fact is, we are much more afraid of life than our
ancestors, and cannot find it in our hearts either to marry
or not to marry. Marriage is terrifying, but so is a cold
and forlorn old age. People who share a cell in the
Bastile, or are thrown together on an uninhabited isle, if
they do not immediately fall to fisticuffs, will find some
possible ground of compromise. They will learn each
other's ways and humours, so as to know where they must go
warily, and where they may lean their whole weight. The
discretion of the first years becomes the settled habit of
the last; and so, with wisdom and patience, two lives may
grow indissolubly into one.
*
'Well, an ye like maids so little, y'are true natural man;
for God made them twain by intention, and brought true love
into the world, to be man's hope and woman's comfort.'
*
There are no persons so far away as those who are both
married and estranged, so that they seem out of earshot, or
to have no common tongue.
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