Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1847-04-22
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From the Ladies' Wreath.
The Evening Before Marriage.
TRANSLATED FROM TIE GERMAN OF zscHoKKE.

wv snail certainty DC very "DPFJ
said Louise 10 her aunt on the evening before
her marriage, and her cheeks g lowed with deep
or red and her eyes shone with delight. When
the bride says mc it may easily be guessed
whom of all the persons in the world she means
thereby.
Il do not doubt it, dear Louise, replied her
aunt, sec that you only continue happy together
'Oh, who can doubt that we shall continue so
/ know myself | have faults indeed, but my
love for him will correct them. And so long as
we love each other, we cannot be unhappy
Our love will never grow cold.
ALAS sighed her aunt thou dost speak like
maiden of nineteen, on the day Of her marriage,
in the intoxication of wishes fulfilled Of fair
hopes and happy omens, Dear child remember
this-eUen the heart in time grO'cs cold Days
will come when the magic Of the senses shall
fade And when this enchantment has fled
then it first becomes evident whether we are tru
" worthy of love. When custom has made ia
miIliar the charms that are most attractive when
youthful freshness has died away, and with the
brightness of domestic life, more and more shad
ows have mingled then, Louise, and not till then
can the wife say of the husband, He is worthy
of love- then, first, the husband say of the wife,
'She blooms in impershable beauty But truly
on the day before marriage, such assertions sound
laughable to me-
4 understand you, dear aunt. You would
say that the mutual virtues alone can in later
years give US worth for each other But is not
he to whom am to belong-for of myself
can boast nothing but the best intentons--is he
not the worthiest, noblest of all young men of
the city? Blooms not in his soul, every virtue
that tends to make life happy :?
my child, replied her aunt, 4 grant it, Vir-
tues bloom in thee as well as in him can say
this to thee without hatery. But, dear heart,
they bloom only and are not yet rpened beneath
the suns heat and the shower. No blossoms
deceive the expectations more than these We
can never tell in what soil they have taken root.
Who knows the concealed depths of the heart 2
'Ah, dear aunt you lrighten me-
so much the better, Louise. Such fear is
right, such fear is as it should be on the evening
before marriage. | love thee tenderly, and will
therefore declare all my thoughts on this subject
without disguise. | am not as yet an old aunt
At seven and twenty years. one still looks Tor
ward into life with pleasure the world still pre-
sents bright side to US. l have an excellent
husband. | am happy. Therefore | have a
right to speak thus to thee and to call thy atten-
tion to a secret which perhaps thou dost not yet
know one which is not often spoken of to a
young and pretty maiden, one indeed which does
not generally occupy the thoughts of young
man, and still is Of the utmost Importance in ev-
cry household; a secret from which alone spring
lasting love, uralterable happiness
Louise seized the hanl Of her aunt in both
of hers
Dear aunt you know l believe you in ev-
cry thing You mean that enduring happiness
and lasting love are not insure to us by acciden-
ia! qualities, BY fleeing charms, but only those
virtues Of the mind which we bring to each 9TH
er. These are the best dowry which we can
possess; these never become old
'As it happens, Louise, the virtues also, like
the beauties of the body, can grow old and be-
come repulsivc and hateful with age
How, dearest aunt what is it you say .
Name to me virtue which can become hateful
with years
when they have become so, we no longer
call them virtues, as beautiful maiden can no
longer be called beautiful, when time has chang
ed her to an old and wrinkled woman
But aunt, the virtues are nothing earthly
Perhaps
How can gentleness and mildneSs ever be-
come hateful 2
so soon as they degenerate into insipid indo-
lence and listlessness.'
And manly courage?
Becomes imperious rudeness.'
And modest difidence"
Turns to fawnmg humility
And noble pride 2
TO vulgar haughtiness'
"A readiness to obligeF
Becomes habit of too ready friendship and
serviIity.'
Dear aunt, you make me almost angry.-My
future husband can never degenerate thus He
has one virtue which will preserve him as he is
forever A deep sense, an understandable feel
ing for all that is great and good and noble
dwells in his BOSOM And this delicate suscep
tibility to all that is noble dwels in me also,
hope, as well as in him. This is the innate
pledge and security for our happiness
But if it should grow old with YOU if j
should change to hateful excitabiity and excl
liability is the worst enemy of matrimony Yo1
both possess sensibility, That do not deny
but beware lest this grace degenerate you int
an irritable and quarrelsome mortal
'Ah, dearest, if might never become old
could then be sure that my husband wouIc
never cease to love me-
Thou art greatly in error, dear child Wer
thou always fresh and beautiful as to-day, sti
thy husbands eye would by custom of years be
come indifferent to these advantages Custom
is the greatest enchantress in the world, and il
the house one of the most benevolent of fairies
She renders that which is most beautiful, as we
as the ugliest familiar. A wife is young, an
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