Woo'd And Married and A'

It would have been unlovely and unwomanly in Maggie not to be happy; not
to be a little excited, not perhaps, sometimes, to have been a little
trying. For a great happiness is often depressing to those who have to
witness its exultation, prolonged day after day. Ordinary mortals feel
outside of it, and it strikes them with a vague, but certain, fear. Mary
often said to herself--"I would not be so silly about any one as Maggie is
about Allan. I hope if ever I do fall in love, a measure of common sense
will be granted me."

Still people usually show a singular patience and tolerance with lovers.
The old have "been in Arcadia," and have tender memories of it. The young
have a wistful anticipation, a sympathetic curiosity. At any rate, the
courtship was only to last six weeks, and Mary determined, however
provoking the engaged pair might be, that she would put all down to the
fact that lovers believe themselves to be a sublimated couple, quite out
of the community of ordinary mortals; and being so happy and
self-satisfied with themselves, they could not understand why every one
else was not in the same supreme condition.

And Mary Campbell was right; for if love is to have anything like the
place in real life, that it has in poetry--if we have any faith in that
mighty ruler of hearts and lives, a genuine love affair, we ought not to
dim the glory of marriage by denying it this sojourn in a veritable land
of enchantment; for in its atmosphere many fine feelings blossom, that
never would have birth at all, if the niceties and delicacies of courtship
were superseded by the levelling rapidity of marriage. There is time for
writing and reading love letters, and both tongue and pen get familiar
with affectionate and noble sentiments. We may admit that love-making is
an unreasonable and impracticable piece of business; but in this very
circumstance all its charm lies. Love delights in asserting the
incredible, and in believing the impossible. But it is precisely in the
depths of this delicious foolishness that the heart attains its noblest
growth.