Chapter 4: Physical Harmony 3. The Honeymoon

The honeymoon is a time set apart for the beginning of various new adjustments, and it ought to be a comparatively brief period free from hurry and distraction. It is better to spend it at some restful place, such as a hotel or cabin by a lake than in traveling and sightseeing. Weddings should be early enough in the day to enable the bride and groom to have their evening together at the first place of destination, rather than to spend it in traveling.

This period may be made a time to which the mates will look back with wonder and delight, and for this reason it is of the utmost importance that the husband and wife should know how to bind their lives more closely together. During these early days it is possible for the husband to show his bride that love in marriage is even more beautiful than anything she has ever known before, and it is worth everything if they can start their life together in that way.

Whatever else a wife wants in her husband, the normal wife is sure to want him to be a lover. This will help him during the honeymoon to dissolve any barriers of uncertainty or fear that the bride may have. If, however, he breaks through these barriers with harshness, the two may remember the beginning of their marriage with unnecessary pain and regret. Let not the husband think that just because the wedding has taken place he may demand intercourse, for to approach this experience as a right to be claimed may spoil it temporarily for both.

At all times, and especially at the time of timidity and uncertainty of the inception of the new relationship, the wife wants to be courted and loved rather than forced either physically or mentally. Her nature is such that love means everything to her, and the tenderest and most intimate physical expression of union may be made such as to thrill her whole being.

Great gentleness along with strength on the bridegroom's part will be well repaid. As he has wooed her and won her to marriage, all the more should he woo his bride to the new experiences. It is only the occasional woman who will respond best to the cave-man type. The bridegroom's purpose is not to gain something for which he has long waited, but to lay a foundation for a lifetime of happiness together.

On the other hand, let not the bride insult the husband who is keeping himself for her, by regarding his passion as something unworthy. This is an affront to his manhood and unworthy of her as a mature woman, because absence of desire is a fault on her part.