The mistake that ardent and headstrong boys and girls make is in thinking
that impulse and passion are the keys of Paradise. Their
Elders know that impulse and passion are sometimes the keys of Purgatory.

Prudence and prevision are not keys to any supernal (or infernal)
existence; they are merely guide-books to a terrestrial journey. At all
events, it is significant that (which might be added as a lemma)

Widows rarely choose unwisely!

(1) Quoted by C. de Varigny in the "Revue des Deux Mondes" of January the
15th, 1893.

* * *

Over that much-bethought-of, much-surmised-about-thing, a proposal of
marriage, every young woman weaves a pre-conceived halo of romance, but

In nineteen cases out of twenty a proposal is either unexpected or
disappointing; that is,

Many a girl has almost held her breath with anxiety as she saw the great
question coming; then almost cried with vexation at the way it came.
For, often,

Either the wrong man proposes or the right man proposes stupidly.

The woman looks for ideal surroundings, a dramatic situation, and
impassioned and poetic utterance; usually,