The New Hampshire Gazette

An Epistle to Bachelors.

Take unto thyself a wife, and obey the
ordinance of God: take unto thyself a wife.
And become a faithful member of society.--
But examine what care and fix not suddenly:--on thy present choice depends the fu-
ture happiness of her and thy posterity.
If much of her time is destroyed in dress
and ornaments; if she is enamored with her
own beauty, and delights with her own
praise; if she laugheth much and talketh
loud; if her foot abideth not in her father's
house, and her eyes with boldness rove on
the faces of men, though her beauty were
as the Sun in the firmament of Heaven,
turn thy face from her charms, turn thy feet
from her paths, and suffer not thy soul to be
ensnared by the allurements of thy imagination.
But when thou findest amiability of heart,
joined with sweetness of manners; an accom-
plished mind, with a form agreeable to thy
fancy; take her home to thy house. she is
worthy to be thy friend, thy companion in
life, the wife of thy bosom.
O cherish her as a blessing sent thee from
Heaven; let the kindness of thy behavior
endear thee to her heart.
She is the mistress of thy house; treat
her therefore, with respect, that thy ser-
vants may obey her.
Oppose not her inclinations without
cause; she is the partner of thy cares. make
her also the companion of thy pleasures.
Reprove her faults with gentleness, exact
not her obedience with rigor.
I trust thy secrets to her breast, her coun-
els are sincere. thou shalt not be deceived.
Be faithful to her bed; for She is the
mother of thy children.
When pain and sickness assault her, let
thy tenderness sooth her affliction; a look
from thee, of pity and love. shall alleviate
her grief, or mitigate her pain; and be of
more avail than ten physicians.
Consider the delicacy of her sex. the ten-
derness of her frame; and be not severe to
her weakness, but remember thine own im-
perfections.