The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1866-05-05
THE
vENING BEFORE MARRIAGE.
FROM THE GERMAN OF szcnoKKE.

N ENlNU BEfURE MARRlAUE.
FROM THE GERMAN OF szcHoKKE.
1--WE shall be certainly very happy
gether," said Louise to her Aunt on
. ,e evening before marriage, and her
u = eek glowed with deeper red, and
! sr eyes shone with delight. When a
Z idle says zoe, it may be easily guessed
n hom, of all persons in the world, she
means thereby.
"I do not doubt it, dear Louise" re-
piled her Aunt; "see only that you
continue to be happy together"
sob, who can doubt that we shall
continue so! / know myself. | have
faults, indeed, but my love for him will
greet them. And so long as we love
n [,h other we cannot be unhappy. Our
III Ie will never grow old"
VI 'iAlas !" sighed her Aunt, thou dost
ipeall like a maiden of nineteen, on the
fay before her marriage, in the intoXi-
n yltion of wishes fulfilled of fair hopes,
n Ind happy omens. Dear child, remem-
" Ter this--even the heart in time grows
II bd Days will come when the magic
/
II his cnchantment has fled, then it first
II ecomes evident whether we are truly
lorthy of love. When custom has
|. ade familiar the charms that are most
-tractive when youthful freshness has
ed away, and with the brightness of
pmestic life more and more shadows
N I'VE mingled, then, Louise, and not till
O., e In hue Nd
u lie is worthy of love;' then first the
II sband say of his wife, She blooms
III imperishable beauty But truly, on
4 day before marriage, such express
7 >ns sound laughable to me-"
81 understand you, dear Aunt. You
Id say that our mutual virtues alone
in earlier years give us worth for
H 4 other. But is not he to whom am
N iong-for ofmyselfI l can boast moth
h inc but the Best he not the
\ noblest, worthiest of all the young men
4 in the city,? Blooms not in his soul
\ every virtue that tends to make life
happy ?"
"My child" replied her Aunt, 81
grant it. Virtues bloom in thee as well
AS in him can say thus to thee with
out fiattery. But, dear heart, they bloom
only, and are not yet ripened meath the
suns rays and the shower. No bios
SONS deceive the expectations more than
these. We can never tell in what soil
they have taken root. Who knows the
u concealed depths of the heart?'
N "Ah, dear Aunt, you really frighten
W me-"
( $50 much the better, Louise. Such
fear Is right; such fear is as it should be
on the evening before marriage. Hove
thee tenderly, and will therefore declare
all nmy thoughts to thee on this subject
hithort disguise. l am not as yet an
iod aunt. AT seven-and-twenty years
{ one looks forward into life with pleasure
the world still presents Il bright side
to IL. have an excellent husband.
am happy. Therefore l have the right
to speak thus to thee, to call thy atten-
tion to secret which perhaps thou dost
4 not vet know, one which is not often
spoken of to young and pretty maiden,
one, indeed which does not greatly oc-
cupy the thoughts of young man, and
still is of the utmost importance in every
H household; secret from which alone
springs lasting love and unalterable hap
piness."
g.Il Louise seized the hand of her Aunt in
e both of hers. "Dear Aunt! you know
believe you in everything. Youmean
hat enduring happiness is not insured
- L t,,I 'n, l. 40 n
n tharms, but only by those virtues of the
mind which we bring to each other
frhese are the best dowry which we can
possess; these never become old"
GAS it happens, Louise. The virtue,
Aso, like the beauties of the body, eaI
gov old, and become repulsive ant
blteful with age"
|" How, dearest Aunt? what is it yor
Sy? Name me virtue which can be
] 9me hateful with years"
"When they have become so we NJ
Finger call them virtues, as beautiful
maiden can no longerbe called beautiful
when time has changed her to an ole
IN ahd wrinked woman"
I'LL g But, Aunt, the virtues are nothing
IL eirthly."
i Perhaps"
"How can gentleness and mildnes
(, ever become hateful?"
y, $50 soon as they degenerate into in
+ sipid insolence and listlcssness."
W1( "And manly courage?"
I\ "Becomes imperious rudeness."
" "And modest diflidence?"
Ak"Turns to fawning humility"
"And noble pride?"
"To vulgar haughtiness."
,W-And readiness to obllge?"
"BecNmes habit of too ready friend
IA ship andNervility."
GlE "Dear Aunt, you make me almost an
4 gry4 My fu'ure husband can never de
gelerate thus. IIe has one virtue whicl
IA wil preserve fNn as he is forever
Hdep sense, an inNestructible feeling 70