Page:Maud Howe - A Newport Aquarelle.djvu/153

less to you. I did not marry until I was a year or two older than you, and was heartily sick of myself, and of thinking about myself, and of all the shadowy joys and triumphs I was supposed to enjoy. Now, you have a heart, and were meant to love (as was I) something and somebody besides yourself. Suppose the man whom you marry is not your young ideal; what of that? All men are troublesome comforts, but it's a great thing to have a companion of your own time, whose interests are one with your own, and who will go with you through life. My dear, it is very dreary to sit over the embers alone. Husbands are at best a good deal of a trial, but then the compensation comes in one's children. I am a woman who has, as you know, experienced a great deal and enjoyed many things, but the comfort and pleasure I have had in my boys outweighs all the rest of the goods of my life beyond comparison. But I suppose you can't understand that."