It matters so much--so very very much--with what preconceptions and
assumptions we approach wedded life.

Of course Mother Nature teaches the great art of living in the married
state to thousands. Two sensible people endowed with some patience,
some common sense, and a great deal of affection have every right to
expect that without much difficulty they will find for themselves the
right way in marriage. Uncounted couples who read no books and never
heard of psychology have made a lifelong success of it simply by being
natural, brave, unselfish, and really loving. Many such simply wonder
when they hear others talk about the difficulties, dangers, and painful
experiences connected with marriage. They never found these things in
their marriages. The last thing I would like to suggest to the young
is that they need be afraid. Personally I agree with the man who said
that on his wedding day he had entered a new and splendid country for
which he felt quite unworthy and that he had never since ceased to
wonder and thank God for its beauties, its interests, and its delights.

Yet there are other couples--couples who have made mistakes, and now
talk rather bitterly about marriage; and it is because I believe that
even a little more knowledge and a little more patience might have
prevented those mistakes that I offer the following pages with my
congratulations and good wishes to all who are about to marry.

There are no absolute rules for the conduct of married life. There are
only truths to be recognized. We are all apt at times to wish for
absolute rules. We think they would make life easier. We even wish
sometimes that Jesus had given us absolute rules and not simply
principles. But in fact rules always turn out to be galling things.
They are not for free personalities who differ enormously in