Year: 1874

There is shrewd complacency about bach
elOrs of middle life, which, to married men, is
generally very vexatious. They reVel obtru-
sively in their freedom from domestic and
family cares, and regard with a somewhat tri.
umphant air the darliDgs with which your
quiver is so abundantly stocked. Are you
going to take your family to the sea- with the
usual impedimentd of buckets, wooden spades,
and slatternly nursery maid- your bachelor
will not fail to impress on you the delightful
tour he has planned in the Tyro or his inten-
ded expedition up the Nile. In short, he is
the fox who has not lost his tail, and intends
never to do SO, and is, as a consequence. pro-
portionately self-important and condescending
to those who have.


We're the history OF these confirmed bach
elOrs truthfully transcribed it would be found
that they had often been in love in the days of
their youth. Although now exhalterI., they
were originally but human. They dreamed
and worried about childish faces, and azure
eyes, and chestnut hair, like other wiser men.
They sent valentines and wrote verses, where
dove" rhymed with love" and "eyes'
with "sighs.' Further than this, at more
than one ball they have dreamed. CONNIE on
veUe a vingt ans, that the Sylph in their arms
might be lovable companion and pleasant
toy thing, and that it would be very jolly to
look across the table and always meet those
pretty eyes, Instead OF the gooseberry- -colored
luminaries of a lodging house slavoy" But
these dreams belonged to the period of cigar
and some brandy and Soda" Alas! in the
morning, as a pound of steak and several eggs
were consumed in all the prosaic sternness of
hungry manhood, the young lady, face was
apt to be forgotten, to be snsercd at, OF TO be
efaced by unpleasant recolIectons Of Jones,
whose wife has twice presented him with twins
and whose temper is of the shortest.


So the years passed on, and the bachelor
becomes more and more confirmed in his bach
| elor life. 1t Is not likely now that he is
nearly fifty, that he will catch loves fever,
though many cases are, of course, on record


and when they do occur are very severe. But
the probability is the bachelor will shortly ap-


proach that period of life when numheress


nephews and and neces will realize that their
cellbate uncle has good deal of money to


leave, and will watch his health with the most


anxious sOlicitude. He, in his turn, will have


acquired certain habits of FITNESS which


will probably induce him to disappoint those


who count upon his money


There is one curious reflection to be made


on the invariab!e view that all confirmed bach


elors, at the end of their lie, take of the


course they have pursued. They invariably


applaud their prudence and caution. They


generally regard themselves a. the most unset


fish of men; for did they not in early lie
sacrifice their own matrimonial wishes to n-


stincts OF prudence and self denial? Have


they not preserved family property, which
would have otherwise been divided among
! their own chidren2 Really, as be looks back
on his career, the confirmed bachelor is quite
affected by the great surrender bis life has


been to the interests and advantage of his
r family. But his friends and his relations do
Z not agree in these conclusions. They find their
, cebate relation is tyranncal aud cold hearted.
/ His selfsbness is more than the most nvete.
e rate legacy.hunter can endure, and the self
e denial of which he talks is, in the opinion oi
a his acquaintance, gross s0phism. They are


not far wrong. 1t is true always that it is
S not good for man to dwell alone" Love
f means selfsacrifce. To work for otherS-to
e give up individual pleasures that you may
f minister to others enjoyment-tO learn to bring
all the troubles and vexations of outside life to


the freside, where gentle comforter never
Q faiIs-to thus live on in total sympathy with


another, with similar hopes and trials and


struggles-these are the lessons the confirmed
/. bachelor has never learned for his boasted
u immunity from care and anxiety has been pur


chased by the exclusion Of the brightest bles
e sing in life, to wit, that of love.