Speak it not lightly; 'tis a holy thing--
A bond, enduring thro' long distant years,
Life will not prove all sunshine; there will come
Dark hours for all; oh! will ye, when the night
Of sorrow gathers thickly round your home,
Love as ye did in days when smooth and bright
Seemed the sure path ye trod, untouched by care,
And deemed the future, like the present, fair?
Age, with its silvery locks, will come stealing on,
And bring the tottering step, the furrow'd cheek,
The eye, from whence each lustrous gleam hath gone;
And the pale lip, with accents low and weak;
Will ye then think upon your youth's gay prime,
And, smiling, bid love triumph over time?
Speak it not lightly; oh! beware! beware!
'Tis no vain promise, no unmeaning word;
Before God's altar, now ye both do swear,
And by the High and Holy One 'tis heard!
Be faithful to each other till life's close;
Seek peace below, and you'll get Heaven's repose.
1303
Let him who weds, wed character, not money.
1304
A girl should look happy because she is not married; a wife because she
is.
1305
_A Gentleman, but a Fool._--Chief Justice Marshall once found himself
suddenly brought to a halt by a small tree which intervened between the
front wheel and the body of his buggy. Seeing a servant at a short
distance, he asked him to bring an axe and cut down the tree. The
servant--a colored man--told the judge that there was no occasion for
cutting down the tree, but just to back the buggy. Pleased at the good
sense of the fellow, Judge Marshall told him that he would leave him
something at the inn hard by, where he intended to stop, having then no
small change. In due time the man applied, and a dollar was handed him.
Being asked if he knew who it was that gave him the dollar, he replied:
"No, sir: I concluded he was a gentleman by his leaving the money, but I
think he is the biggest fool I ever saw."
1306
If thou art a master, be sometimes blind, and sometimes deaf.
--_Fuller._
1307
Let no man be the servant of another who can be his own master.
1308
Our master is our--enemy.
--_From Amiel's Journal._
Applicable to those who have formed a useless habit.
1309
_Matrimony._--He hath tied a knot with his tongue that he cannot untie
with all his teeth.
1310
_Numbers, xxxvi. 6_,--"Let them marry to whom they think best; only to
the family of the tribe of their fathers shall they marry."
Mr. John Martin used to give two advices, both to his children and
others, in reference to marriages. One was, "Keep within the bounds of
your profession." The other was, "Look at suitableness in age, quality,
education, temper, etc." He used to observe, from Genesis, ii, 18, "I
will make him a help-meet for him;" that there is not meetness, there
will not be much help. He commonly said to his children, with reference
to their choice in marriage, "Please God, and please yourselves, and you
shall never displease me;" and greatly blamed those parents who conclude
matches for their children without their consent. He sometimes mentioned
the saying of a pious gentlewoman, who had many daughters.--"The care of
most people is how to get good husbands for their daughters; but my care
is to fit my daughters to be good wives, and then let God provide for
them."
1311