Then the momentous inquiry presents itself: Whom ought I to marry, with whom ought I to commence a courtship, and to what ought I principally look? I will now endeavor to reply to these questions, and to furnish you with a few practical hints.
2. In the first place, look for genuine piety, modesty, intelligence, and commonsense. A woman must necessarily possess true piety; without this she is unfit to make a man happy, or to bring up children properly. It is quite certain, however, that a young woman is destitute of real piety, no matter how frequently she may go to church, if she is guilty of disobedience, impertinence, untruthfulness, and duplicity in regard to her father and mother; or if she has a loose and biting tongue, from which no one is safe.
Beware of marrying such a one; most probably she would be the same in regard to you as she is in regard to her parents and other persons. Furthermore, if a girl is conspicuously vain, indulges her pride, dresses in an immodest and unseemly manner, is excessively fond of frequenting picnics and dancing places, and is not ashamed to parade her real or imaginary charms even in the house of God and during divine service, or if she seems in a tremendous hurry to get married - such a one could never satisfy you; she would never make you happy.
