"It would prevent much and complicated misery in the world..."

I could not help but be greatly amused by the following item (and also be somewhat reminded of this exchange):

"2874. There is no reason why the passion of love should be wrapped up in mystery. It would prevent much and complicated misery in the world, if all young persons understood it."

-from Inquire Within for Anything You Want to Know, or Over Three Thousand Seven Hundred Facts Worth Knowing (New York: Dick and Fitzgerald, 1856), excerpted at greater length here and here.

Oh, well, if you put it like that...!

In all seriousness, the excerpts are a charming read. If only today's society would reinstitute an expectation of gentlemanliness and respectability!