The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1907-04-27
GREETINGS TO THE BRIDE.

robes, she stands at the marriage
altar in her sweet, trusting innocence
and beauty, drawing the beholder to
her in bonds of love and admiration.
She has no dread of the morrow,
no lurking fear lest there might be
a hidden canker that is going to de-
velop into an incurable sore to wreck
the happiness of her life. In her
great love and confidence in the man
she has chosen for life time COM
panion, she could not be made to be-
lieve that he might not be quite all
that her fancy paints him. But
such things have happened.
The sooner the young wife realizes
that in getting married she has as
sumed responsibilities that cannot be
laid aside without serious consequent
ces, the better for her. She must be
a helper to her husband. She may
feel that her trouble is about over
when she has secured a stalwart man
to carry her burdens but, on the
contrary, they have only begun.
Both must be burden bearers, it is so
ordered and she has no reason to
complain unless the bulge of the load
falls on her shoulders. Whatever
her husband may do or not do, l want
her to make sure to do her own part
we'll.
She wants and needs good home
and a happy one. She not only
wants it now, but will always want
it. When the world is receding from
her, friends have become few, and
she seems to be almost alone among
crowds of people, then more than ever
she will need her own fireside for
warmth, and her own roof for shelter.
1t is for her to decide now what sort
of life shall be hers in the years to
come.
Does she want money when the
night comes wherein she cannot work.
Does she want friends who will stand
by her in adversely as well as In the
days of prosperity? And does she
desire an untarnished reputation in
the community in which she resides !
If so, now is the time to begin to win
these blessings for herself. She must
tend to her moorings and not be
drifted about by every wind that
blows, by every fashion that prevails,
and by every temptation that besets
her way. Every blessing that is
worth having must be worked for.
We have no inherent right to friends,
fortune, education, health and long
life; we must earn them for our
selves. True fortune and friends and
other blessings may seem to come
our way sometimes without our eff
forts, but it will take our most watch
full care and studious attention to re-
tain them to the end. l have seen
young men and young women who
idled away their youth, lost fortunes
that had come to them by inheritance
simply because they had no idea of
business, no willingness to save, and
no experience in earning money or
knowledge of the hard uphill road
that leads the worker on to fortune.
Their parents or ancestors thought
to save them that tug by bearing it
themselves, but could not, and only
deferred the days of toll and depriva-
ton until late in life, when they are
so much harder to bear.
My young friends, now is the time
to lay the foundation of your life
structure. Be simple in your living !;
be economical in all things, remem-
bering that little leaks sink great
ships :" keep all that you can honest
ly save for the time when you will
need it for yourself, or to help some
needy relative or friend; and more
important than all, heed the "still
small voice. that is directing your
footsteps in all things, and you will
not go far astray.
Some of you may be the children
of hardworking parents, who have
spent their prime in ceaseless efforts
to provide for their families and if
in age they find themselves unable to
carry their own loads, it is for you to
come forward and lovingly provide
for them, as they did for you in your
helpless days. Honor thy father
and thy mother, that thy days may
be long in the land," is law that is
above any that the seats of higher ed
ucation promulgate, and so far is it
above our lawmakers, that they dare
not add to or take from its sacred re-
quirements.
The world seems to be going mad
after luxuries and modern inventions
for ease, most of which deplete the
pocketbook and enfeeble the body ;
but we yet have the power turn our
backs on these follies, and stick to
the thrifty ways of our ancestors,
whose industry and self-sacrihcing
thrift made this country so rich and
great. 1t is not the spendthrifts who
are the nations's bulwarks.
Some ofthe young brides. no doubt,
have been trained in boarding schools
and at the piano, and it will be all
the harder to learn the art of home
making but it must be done. Il
the young husband squanders hi:
money in smoke or drink, or is lavish
in treating and sporting, let hel
sweetly ask him to give her an equal
amount for her personal expenses.
He can hardly have the face, in the
flush of the honeymoon, to object te
this. Let her save this money ant
put it at interest, not in any of the
get-rich-quick schemes that SC
abound, but in building association
savings bank, or other place close to
home, and see what a sum she viii
have by and by. 1t may, in a mea'
sure, break up these bad habits, bu'
| if not. il will fortify her for a rainy