How to Perpetuate the Honeymoon

By W. H. Du Puy, A. M., D.D.
From the book Our Marriage, compiled by Kate Porteous Holt
Published circa 1917, The Holt Concern Publishers, Warren, Ohio

So these lives that had run thus far in separate channels,
Coming in sight of each other, then swerving and flowing asunder,
Parted by barriers strong, but drawing nearer and nearer,
Rushed together at last, and one was lost in the other.
—Courtship of Miles Standish

Continue your courtship. Like causes produce like effects.

Do not assume a right to neglect your companion more after marriage than you did before.

Have no secrets that you keep from your com­panion. A third party is always disturbing.

Avoid the appearance of evil. In matrimonial matters it is often that the mere appearance contains all the evil. Love, as soon as it rises above calculation and becomes love, is exacting. It gives all, and demands all.

Make the best of the inevitable. Persist in looking at and presenting the best side. Such is the subtle constitu­tion of the human mind, that we believe what we will; also, what we frequently tell.

Keep a lively interest in the business of the firm. Two that do not pull together, are weaker than either alone.

Gauge your expenses by your revenues. Love must eat. The sheriff often levies on Cupid long before he takes away the old furniture.

Start from where your parents started, rather than from where they now are. Hollow and showy boarding often furnishes the too strong temptation, while the quietness of a humble home would cement the hearts beyond risk.

Avoid debt. Spend your own money, then it will not be necessary to blame any one for spending other people’s.

Don’t both get angry at the same time. It takes two to quarrel.

Do not allow yourself ever to come to an open rupture. Things unsaid need less repentance.

Study to understand your companion’s disposition, in order to please and avoid friction.

Study to conform your tastes and habits to the tastes and habits of your companion. If two walk together, they must agree.

Chang and eng were the siamese twins. Chang made Eng lie down when sick. It killed Eng and Chang Could not Survive him. Take care of Eng. Few people survive divorce.

True love’s the gift which God has given
To man alone beneath the heaven;
It is the secret sympathy,
The silver link, the silken tie,
Which heart to heart and mind to mind
In body and in soul can bind.
-Scott

If the apple grows on the apple tree,
And the wild wind blows o’er the wildwood free;
And the deep stream flows to the deeper sea:
And they cannot help growing and blowing, and flowing
I cannot help loving thee.

But if wild winds blew no more on the lea,
And no blossoms grew on the healthy tree,
And the river untrue escaped to the sea,
And they all had ceased growing, and blowing, and flowing
I’d never cease loving thee.

And till that hour in the day or night,
In the field or bower, in the dark or light,
In the fruit or flower, in the bloom or blight,
In my reaping or sowing, my coming and going,
I’ll never cease loving thee.

ANON