"And this tells the whole story. The confirmed gossip is always either malicious or ignorant. The one variety needs a change of heart and the other a change of pasture. Gossip is always a personal confession either of malice or imbecility, and the young should not only shun it, but, by most thorough culture, relieve themselves from all temptation to indulge in it. It is a low, frivolous, and, too often, a dirty business. There are neighborhoods in which it rages like a pest. Churches are split in pieces by it. Neighbors are made enemies by it for life. In many persons it degenerates into a chronic disease, which is practically incurable. Let the young cure it while they may."
Married Life.—As the family is the center about which all life revolves, it is absolutely essential to have happy relations there. Husbands too often neglect their wives and homes. "Women are lonely," says Mrs. Annie Jenness. "They miss their husbands. What amount of companionship exists between the American woman and the man? He starts for his office as soon as his breakfast is hurriedly swallowed. He does not come home at the lunch hour. He is barely in season for a late dinner. Very possibly he belongs to a club and has an engagement as soon as dinner is done.
"If not that, his head is in bank or counting-house, and he studies the stock quotations in the night's paper, and counts, as against a possible rise of wheat, the day's gossip, with which his wife is overflowing, very small potatoes. They have callers, or they go to opera or theater. It may easily happen that they do not spend ten minutes in conversation with each other during the day. American men are always in a hurry. They seem to live for the sole purpose of catching trains. They have no time to amuse or be amused.
"The conditions of modern life separate them from women. The lives of men grow more and more simple—business comprehends the whole. The lives of women grow more and more complex—everything which is not business is given over to them. A man past the romantic epoch, who honestly enjoys talking with women, is not an average mortal. The every-day sort of man takes pains to be detained somewhere until all the guests have departed from his wife's 5 o'clock tea. The couple live in different worlds. The world is now discussing why marriage is a failure, if it is? Then consider this collection of reasons:—
"When either of the parties marry for money.
"When the lord of creation pays more for cigars than his better half does for hosiery, boots, and bonnets.
"When one of the parties engages in a business that is not approved by the other.
"When both parties persist in arguing over a subject upon which they never have and never can think alike.
"When neither husband nor wife takes a vacation.
"When the vacations are taken by one side of the house only.