A young professional man, entirely dependent on his own efforts, is always in danger of falling into the error of considering an “advantageous” marriage as a most desirable thing. When we say advantageous, we mean in a money point of view. Years, in the natural course of things, must elapse before a profitable position can be gained; and, in looking down the long vista of the future, feelings of discouragement will naturally arise. To some, the prospect appears almost hopeless. The young lawyer without a case on his docket, the young physician who waits day after day for a patient, the young minister with a hundred a year, and the young artist who paints and draws, day after day, but has no sitter in his studio, if dependent on their own exertions, all feel painfully the pressure of poverty. To such the imagination will picture the advantages that money would give, and as there is no hope of gaining money except by a slow and laborious process through years of toil, self-denial and mortification, it is too often the case that marriage is thought of as the means of over-leaping all the trials and troubles that present themselves in a long and disheartening array. With a competency in hand, how interesting would be the profession adopted as a life-pursuit. The lawyer could bury himself in his library without thinking about or caring for the daily bread, diving deeper and deeper into the mysteries of his craft, and preparing himself for a sudden stride into eminence when the day of full preparation had come; the physician could go on with his experiments and studies; the preacher minister lovingly to his flock, in some quiet valley far removed from the strife and “shock of men;” and the artist give himself up to the worship of the beautiful, undisturbed by the little cares and wants that take away so much of the mind’s present enjoyment. Thus, the imagination pictures a happy state of things if money were only in possession. And what easier mode of obtaining this, in every way to-be-desired, possession, than an advantageous marriage? None—is the conclusion of the young aspirant for some of the world’s higher honors. And so he goes into society and seeks an alliance with some fair young daughter of Eve, who, among her other attractions, possesses a few thousands of dollars. If he be a young man of naturally delicate feelings and independent mind, the fact that he obtained a fortune with his wife, be it large or small, will most probably make one of the most bitter ingredients in his cup of life. Thus it proved with Alfred Ellison, a young artist formerly residing in Philadelphia, who sought an “advantageous” alliance as a means of professional advancement; and as the history of his married life is full of instruction, we will endeavor to write out some portions of it faithfully.

At the age of twenty-two young Ellison, who had for some two or three years been devoting himself earnestly to the art of drawing and painting, found himself hemmed in with difficulties and discouragements that seemed almost insurmountable. The goal he aspired to win was so far distant that his eyes could scarcely reach it, and between lay barriers that he sadly feared he would never be able to pass. Without an income, and without friends to sustain him for a few years until he could command the patronage of those who loved the arts, how was he to sustain himself? To go abroad and study the works of the old masters in Italy was the dearest wish of his life; but there was no hope of this—at least not in the present, for the little profitable work he was able to procure scarcely gave him food and decent raiment, and was not, when completed, in a style of art at all flattering to his vanity.

“Oh! if I only had the means of studying abroad for two or three years, and not thus be compelled to disgrace myself and the profession by painting mere daubs of portraits in order to get my daily bread,” would fall from his lips over and over again, as he threw aside his brush and pallet and yielded himself up to desponding thoughts. His hopes were too ardent and his imagination too bright for the cold realities of the present. Patience and perseverance amid difficulties were not the leading elements of his character. A lover of art, and possessing a high appreciation of the beautiful, all that he had yet been able to accomplish appeared in his eyes so poor and defective, that he rather shrunk from than courted public attention.

“If I could but hide myself away for two or three years, and devote all that time to the study and practice of art, how happy I would be! Then I could come before the public and present something worthy of the native ability I possess, and worthy to stand beside the productions of those who have won an honored name in the profession.” Thus would he indulge in dreams of what for the present was unattainable, and idly repose for a season under a sense of bitter discouragement.

As Ellison was social in his feelings and possessed of many qualities that made him an agreeable companion, he had a wide circle of acquaintance and was liked wherever he went. Among those into whose society he was occasionally thrown was a young lady named Clara Deville, who was understood to possess, in her own right, a property valued at twenty thousand dollars. She had two brothers, each of whom had received, in the settlement of their father’s estate, a like amount. For Clara, Ellison had entertained little beyond an ordinary feeling of friendship. She was an agreeable companion at any time, though she did not possess a lively imagination nor was her temperament poetic. The sterling points in her character were, strong good sense and a quick appreciation of the rights of others. Though plain in her person, few after becoming acquainted with her thought of this, and if it were said to one of her intimate acquaintances that she was rather homely than otherwise, the remark would not meet with a ready assent, for none who knew her well thought her homely.

Ellison, though he mingled a good deal in society and was a favorite with young ladies, had not thought of marriage, at least not of a present marriage. While he had not the means of supporting a wife he deemed it prudent to keep his heart free from all love entanglements.

One day a friend who understood his position in society said to him—

“Why don’t you marry?”

“Marry!” exclaimed Ellison. “I would as soon think of jumping into the river.”

“Why not?”

“I’m hardly able to support myself.”

“Get a wife with money. Your talents are a fair set off to a fortune.”

“A very poor fortune they have yielded so far.”

“It will be different a few years hence. Get a wife with money enough to make you easy and comfortable, and then give yourself up heart and soul to your profession without a thought or care about dollars and cents. Your wife will make a good investment of her money, and you will be as happy as a king.”

“Upon my word!” said Ellison, laughing, “you have made out the case finely.”

“Wont it do?”

“It looks all very pretty.”

“Can you make out a better case yourself?”

“Perhaps not. But the next thing is the lady.”

“No difficulty about that.”

“Indeed! Well, who is the fair creature?”

“I could mention half a dozen. But I choose for you a good sensible woman as a wife.”

“Her name?”

“Clara Deville.”

The young man shook his head.

“What’s your objection?”

“Clara is an excellent girl. I have always liked her as a friend, but to make her my wife is another thing. I don’t think I could love her well enough for that.”

“Nonsense! She is a girl possessing most excellent qualities of head and heart. The very qualities that wear longest. If she give you her affections you have something worth having, to say nothing of the money.”

But Ellison shook his head in a very positive way.

“Just as you like,” said the friend. “Every one to his fancy. But it strikes me that you could not do a more sensible thing than make Clara Deville your wife. You at once have a home, a pleasant companion, and come into the possession of sufficient property to relieve you of all care about the common and perplexing concerns of life. Think with what delight, ardor, and success you could then devote yourself to painting.”

When these things were first said by the friend they did not make much impression on the mind of the young artist. But a seed was sown, and in a few days it began to send forth little fibres into the earth, and to shoot up a tender blade. From that time Ellison thought more and more about the suggestion of his friend. Whenever he met Clara he observed her more closely, and her image, when it arose in his mind, associated itself with the idea of a life-companionship. Particularly did his mind dwell upon the happy change that would come over his worldly affairs if Clara, possessing the handsome little property of twenty thousand dollars, were his wife. It did not take a very long time for the young man to be able to look at Clara Deville in a different light from that in which he had previously viewed her. The oftener he met the young lady, the more did he find in her that was attractive. Even her plain features underwent a change, and he could see in her face many points of beauty. In fact, before two months had elapsed, he was, or imagined himself to be, deeply in love with the maiden.

The desire of possession comes next after the passion of love. It proved so in this case, and in a much shorter time than the friend who suggested the alliance had dreamed of such an event taking place, Clara was not only wooed and won, but wedded.

——