March of Life. In our progress through the world a thousand things stand continually in our way. Some people meet us full in the face with opposite opinions and inclinations; some stand before us in the pursuit of pleasure or interest, and others follow close at our heels. Now we ought, in the first place, to consider that the road is as free for one as for another; and therefore we have no right to expect that persons should go out of their way to let us pass, any more than we out of ours. Then, if we do not mutually yield and accommodate a little, it is clear that we must all stand still, or be thrown into a perpetual confusion of squeezing and justling. If we are all in a hurry to get on as fast as possible to some point of pleasure or interest in our view, and if we do not occasionally hold back when the crowd gathers, and angry contentions arise, we should only augment the tumult without advancing our own progress. On the whole, it is our business to move on steadily, but quickly, obstructing others as little as possible, yielding a little to this man's prejudice, and that man's desires, and doing everything in our power to make the journey of life easy to all our fellow-travellers as well as to ourselves.-Martin's Christian Lacon. Marriage. Marriage is the strictest tie of friendship, and there can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity; and he must expect to be wretched who pays to beauty, riches, and politeness, that regard which only piety can claim.-Dr. Johnson. A woman hath in every state Most need of circumspection; most of all A marriage of love is pleasant; a marriage of interest easy; and a marriage where both meet, happy.-Addison. Marriage is the best state for man in general; and every man is a worse man in proportion as he is unfit for the married state.-Dr. Johnson. I have often thought that marriage resembled a skyrocket. How brilliantly and aspiringly it commences, grasping another element in its ascent, as though this flat dull earth could not content its aspirations, nor afford space for its display; then how dazzlingly it blazes for a moment; and that moment past, how one by one its starlike fires go out; until at length down-tumbling, dark, and dangerous, falls back all that is left of the false meteor, a few floating ashes and a smoking stick !—Miss Pardoe. - Two persons who have chosen each other out of all the species, with a design to be each other's mutual comfort and entertainment, have, in that action, bound themselves to be good-humoured, affable, discreet, forgiving, patient, and joyful, with respect to each other's frailties and perfections, to the end of their natural lives.-Addison. Marriage is the mother of the world, and preserves kingdoms, and fills cities, and churches, and heaven itself. An unmarried man, like a fly in the heart of an apple, dwells in perpetual sweetness, but dwells alone, and is confined, and dies in singularity. But marriage, like a useful bee, builds a house, and gathers sweetness from every flower, and labours, and unites into societies, and sends out colonies, and feeds the world with delicacies, and obeys its king, and keeps order, and exercises many virtues, and promotes the interest of mankind, and is that state of good things to which God hath designed the constitution of the world.Jeremy Taylor. Of all actions of a man's life, his marriage doth least concern other people, yet of all actions of our life it is most meddled with by other people.-Marriage is a desperate thing. The frogs in Æsop were extremely wise; they had a great mind to some water; but would not leap into the well, because they could not get out again.-Selden. Ye fair married dames, who so often deplore That a lover once blest is a lover no more; Attend to my counsel, nor blush to be taught, That prudence must cherish what beauty has caught. Use the man that you wed like your fav'rite guitar, The sparrow and linnet will feed from your hand, For hearts, like young birds, may be tam'd to your will. Be gay and good-humour'd, complying and kind, Married and Single. The important question is not when a man marries, but who he marries. They talk of a wife tying up his hands, and placing a barrier before his prospects; in short, as flinging a blight over his worldly expectations—like an untimely frost, nipping and withering an opening bud. It is one of the thousand popular fallacies which ever float on the surface of the chit-chat of society. A married man, young or old, is always a more sponsible sort of character than a bachelor. If a man take unto himself an amiable and a prudent wife, even though she bring him not a shilling as a dowry, and although he may be young in years and a beginner in business, he doeth well. Had he doubled his stock, his credit, and his custom, he would not have done better; for he has a double motive to do so. He has found one to beguile his dulness, to soothe his care, to cheer him forward, and to stimulate him to exertion, and that, too, tenderly as the breath of May fanneth and kisseth the young leaves and flowers into beauty.-J. M. Wilson. Maríms. 1. Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day. 2. Never trouble others for what you can do yourself. 3. Never spend your money before you have it. 4. Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap. 5. Pride costs more than hunger, thirst, or cold. 6. We never repent of having eaten too little. 7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 8. How much pain have those evils cost us that never happened? 9. Take things always by their smooth handle. 10. When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, count one hundred. MAXIMS OF THE CHINESE. It is better to suffer an injury than to commit one. The wisest man must in a thousand times be once mistaken the most foolish in a thousand times must be once right. Forbearance is attended with profit. (The word “Patience" is often inscribed on the rings of the Chinese.) He who is willing to inquire will excel; but the selfsufficient man will fail. While silent, consider your own faults; and while speaking, spare those of others. A discontented man is like a snake who would swallow an elephant. The house wherein learning abounds will rise; that in which pleasure prevails, fall. If men will have no care for the future, they will soon have sorrow for the past. A man must make himself despicable before he be really despised by others. Hear both sides, and all will be clear; hear but one, and you will still be in the dark. Kind feeling may be paid with kind feeling; but debts must be paid in hard cash. To be over prudent is not much better than folly. A wife should excel in four things-virtue, speech, person, and needlework. To be fully fed, warmly clothed, and to dwell at ease, without learning, is little better than a bestial state. Those above should not oppress those below; nor those below encroach on those above. Produce much, consume little; labour diligently, spend cautiously (the way to get rich). To persecute the unfortunate, is like throwing stones at one fallen into a well. When paths are constantly trodden, they are kept clean, but when abandoned, the weeds choke them up; so weeds choke the mind in the absence of employment. When an error is committed, good advice is remembered― too late. Love of gain turns wise men into fools. When a girl marries, her father loses a daughter or gains a son. Prejudice and error are the food of fools, and poison to the wise. The most hateful of rogues is the man more honest and wise than the rank and society to which he belongs. MAXIMS OF DEMOCRITUS. He who subdues his passions is more heroic than he who vanquishes an enemy; yet there are men, who, while they command nations, are slaves to pleasure. It is criminal, not only to do mischief, but even to wish it. He who enjoys what he has, without regretting the want of what he has not, is a happy man. The sweetest things become the most bitter by excess. |