No matter how much they have admired her as she was before marriage, they attempt to make her all over afterward. A man may succeed in this, if he begins with care and discretion. I do not think it is a proof of the highest love when two people resolve to take each other with all their mutual faults, and make not the least effort to help each other to overcome them. There is no such thing as being stationary in character. We are slowly and imperceptibly growing better or worse, stronger or weaker, all the time.
Marriage ought to be a splendid partnership for mutual improvement.
A man may dearly love and greatly admire the general characteristics of a girl, and at the same time see certain qualities which he knows would be better either toned down, suppressed, or stimulated. It is the office of true love to try and produce these changes, and often great good results from such efforts. I have known a crude rough diamond of a girl to be polished into perfection by the skill of her hus- band, and she never knew the polishing process was going on. But time, patience, tenderness, and infinite tact were employed in all these cases. When either party goes about the reconstructing business roughly and abruptly, it indicates a lack of sense, if not a lack of heart.