THE FIRST YEAR OF MARRIAGE

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2641, 26 June 1877, Page 2

THE FIRST YEAR OF MARRIAGE

The first year in the new home—ah, there is no year like it; for though others may be happierj the early freshness is gone. Home, I say; for young; married people should always if possible have a home of their own in preference to lodgings. Every divinity should' hare a temple,., and spousal love as much as any. Otherwise the first associations of the life will be bald and mean, even frowsy; the husband will have no house to rv'e, and the wife no household to manage, and there will be a tendency for shoes to go down at the heels, and things generally to be in a crumpled and loose condition. No matter how tiny the house is ; that it is the first, makes it a palace. No matter if you are a little cramped in money matters, if there is reason to expect that you won«t be always cramped. It is an immense gain to be compelled to economise ; for rich as we may become afterwards, habits of wholesome thrift never quite leave us. The furniture nfay be scanty, and some of it old; but a clean chintz makes common things pretty, and the dullest of rooms is set off by some of the bright knicknacks that come in so plentifully among the bridal spoils. Besides, if you start with everything -you want there is nothing to wish for, and no pleasure in adding to your possessions. George Eliot has a subtle remark about the "best society, where nq one makes an invidious display of anything in particular, and the advantages of the world are taken with that high-bred appreciation which follows from being accustomed to them." Not much fear of that here 1 No doubt there will be pictures and photographs, the hanging of which takes at least a day, occasions considerable discussion, and perhaps involves the first serious divergence of opinion. If there is a garden, and one good tree, of course a lover's seat will be placed there. On each side of the fireplace there will be an easy chair, with a table to it for the inevitable tea-cup, the newspaper, the work, perhaps even a book for reading aloud. For in an early and enthusiastic period of married life there is often a good deal of reading aloud—liable, it must be added, to drop into total disuse after a short experience. The husband's voice Is usually found to have been sufficiently tried during the day to make further exertion undesirable. The wife consoles herself by feeling that now she can choose her own books, and on the whole pefers that, when her husband does speak, it should be conversation. The first year ! As we_ look.back at it, over a vista of intervening memories, a tender dew steals over the heart, whijewe thank God for all that has sbeen given, and all that has been spared. When we think, too, of what He has pulled us through, our praise it not unmixed with wonder. —Exchange.