'Madame,' says a young married woman, 'it seems to me that there is no
choice left; when a woman loves her husband all is easy; it is a
pleasure to think and act as he does.'

'Yes, my child, that is the secret of the comedy. Every one knows it,
but no one avails herself of it. So long as even the last glow of the
honey-moon illuminates the chamber of a young couple, all goes along of
itself. So long as the husband hastens to anticipate every wish, we have
merit and sense enough to let him do it. But at a later moment, the
scene changes. How, then, are we to retain our sway? Youth and beauty
decay, and the charm of wit and intelligence is not sufficient. In order
to remain mistresses of our homes, we must practice the most divine of
all the virtues--gentleness--a blind, dumb, deaf gentleness of demeanor,
that pardons everything for the sake of pardoning.'

To love a great deal,--to love unconditionally, so as to be loved a
little in return,--that is the whole moral of the story of Gudbrand.

* * * * *

THE HUGUENOT FAMILIES IN AMERICA.

II.


The brave Admiral Coligny first conceived the plan of a colony in
America for the safety of his persecuted Huguenot brethren of France.
Such an enterprise was undertaken as early as the year 1555, with two
vessels, having on board mechanics, laborers, and gentlemen, and a few