From The Marriage Guide for Young Men

GEORGE W. HUDSON

George W. Hudson wrote The Marriage Guide for Young Men: A Manual of Courtship and Marriage, published in 1883, to fill a need in English literature for such a work, claiming that home and society alike were reluctant to talk about the content. If you can overlook the chapter on Hudson’s phrenological guidelines for selecting a wife, this is actually an excellent book that plainly explicates the pitfalls and pleasures of courtship and marriage, and how a young man ought to respond.

Always treat ladies with the greatest respect. Do this wherever you meet them. Show them that you regard them not as equals, but as superiors. Bestow upon them those little attentions at home and abroad which go so far toward making them happy. Offer to carry their bundles along the street, to give them a seat in the crowded car, to speak to the conductor for them, and the like; they will appreciate your kindness, and vote you a splendid young man. Do these things in an unselfish spirit, without looking for reward. Show the same attentions to young and old, married and single, you will not miss your reward. Mothers will recommend you to their daughters, and grandmothers to their granddaughters. For your own sake reverence woman wherever you find her; it will confirm you in the habits of a gentleman, and may be the means of winning you a genuine matrimonial prize. But aside from all this, reverence woman for what she is in herself.