“Do you think that a girl can be happy if she marries a poor man? I am engaged to the nicest fellow in the world, only he’s poor, ever so much poorer than my father. I love him dearly and would marry him to-morrow if I was sure that I would not miss my home comforts. Sometimes they don’t seem to amount to anything, and I feel as if I would be perfectly satisfied, and then again they seem so necessary to my life. Please advise me.”
The mere possession of money never made any one happy. Some of our happiest days are when we have least of this world’s goods. “Kind hearts are more than coronets,” dear. If your fiance really loves you and you really love him the loss of a few unnecessary comforts will not be noticed. There is no sweeter pleasure in this world than the pleasures of giving and of going without for the sake of a loved one. If you love your future husband enough to feel pleasure at the giving up of some of your creature comforts you may safely take the step. On the contrary, if you feel that you relinquish them unwillingly and feel that you are going to miss them in spite of the presence of your husband, then you want to be cautious and sure of your ground before you decide to marry at all. A girl who values her own comfort more than anything else is not a promising subject for the trials and responsibilities which invariably accompany matrimony.
Unselfishness is the very first quality necessary for those who propose to enter wedded life.
“I write to ask if it is true that men only desire to marry rich girls? Is there no chance for a poor girl who is loving and true-hearted to win a good, true husband even though she is poor and dependent upon her own exertions?”
Good men are looking for loving and true-hearted girls the world over just the same as they have always been. Our correspondent need not fear that there is no chance for her in the field of matrimony. A loyal, noble young man does not seek for a girl to pay the bills, he is both willing and glad to pay them himself, if only he can find in her a trusting, faithful companion—one who can bring joy into his busy life with her kisses and her smiles. In fact, we believe that most right-minded young men prefer the honor of supplying the funds for the family.
“About three months ago I inserted an advertisement in one of the matrimonial papers and received a number of replies. Some of them seemed to be from real nice fellows, and I have kept up a correspondence with them. One of them now wants me to go to New York and meet him for luncheon. It seems to me that it would be a jolly lark, but one of my girl friends says I had better not go. Do you think I would run any risk?
“Florence C. R.”