sacrament as if it were an ordinary transaction."
5. I chanced to read of an instance of this style of transaction in a newspaper the other day. A very wealthy man wanted to get a son-in-law still richer than himself. He met with a young man to suit his ideas, and proposed to give b»m, in the event of his marrying his daughter, a very handsome sum as her dowry. The gentleman however, who probably loved money more than he loved the girl, demanded a still larger sum. The squabble which ensued was a long one; at length the bargain was satisfactorily concluded, and the marriage took place. The young lady does not appear to have been more sensible or noble-minded than her parent, or else she would have said to him, "Father, you can do with your money what you please, but this sordid fellow shall not have me! I want a husband who wishes to marry me, not my money!"
If money ought not to play a principal part, it is, as a rule, desirable that your betrothed should stand on nearly a similar footing with yourself in regard to property; in any case she ought not, by means of an enormous dowry, to make a rich husband out of a poverty-stricken creature. For believe me, there would then be the greatest danger of her making of you a henpecked husband, and that in accordance with the saying,
