1. THE PROPER TIME.--Much has been printed in various volumes
regarding the time of the year, the influence of the seasons, etc., as
determining the proper time to set for the wedding day. Circumstances
must govern these things. To be sure, it is best to avoid extremes
of heat and cold. Very hot weather is debilitating, and below zero is
uncomfortable.
2. THE LADY SHOULD SELECT THE DAY.--There is one element in the time
that is of great importance, physically, especially to the lady. It is
the day of the month, and it is hoped that every lady who contemplates
marriage is informed upon the great facts of ovulation. By reading
page 244 she will understand that it is to her advantage to select
a wedding day about fifteen or eighteen days after the close of
menstruation in the month chosen, since it is not best that the first
child should be conceived during the excitement or irritation of first
attempts at congress; besides modest brides naturally do not wish
to become large with child before the season of congratulation and
visiting on their return from the "wedding tour" is over.
Again, it is asserted by many of the best writers on this subject,
that the mental condition of either parent at the time of intercourse
will be stamped upon the embryo hence it is not only best, but wise,
that the first-born should not be conceived until several months after
marriage, when the husband and wife have nicely settled in their new
home, and become calm in their experience of each other's society.
3. THE "BRIDAL TOUR" is considered by many newly married couples as
a necessary introduction to a life of connubial joy. There is, in our
opinion, nothing in the custom to recommend it. After the excitement
and overwork before and accompanying a wedding, the period immediately
following should be one of _rest_.
Again, the money expended on the ceremony and a tour of the principal
cities, etc., might, in most cases, be applied to a multitude of
after-life comforts of far more lasting value and importance. To be
sure, it is not pleasant for the bride, should she remain at home,
to pass through the ordeal of criticism and vulgar comments of
acquaintances and friends, and hence, to escape this, the young couple
feel like getting away for a time. Undoubtedly the best plan for the
great majority, after this most eventful ceremony, is to enter their
future home at once, and there to remain in comparative privacy until
the novelty of the situation is worn off.
4. IF THE CONVENTIONAL TOUR is taken, the husband should remember
that his bride cannot stand the same amount of tramping around and
sight-seeing that he can. The female organs of generation are so
easily affected by excessive exercise of the limbs which support
them, that at this critical period it would be a foolish and cosily
experience to drag a lady hurriedly around the country on an extensive
and protracted round of sight-seeing or visiting. Unless good
common-sense is displayed in the manner of spending the "honey-moon,"
it will prove very untrue to its name. In many cases it lays the
foundation for the wife's first and life-long "backache."
[Illustration: THE GYPSY BRIDE.]
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