How to be Happy Though Married

Patience and everyday consideration carry more weight than wedding day hopes in E. J. Hardy's handbook on marriage. How to be Happy Though Married presents domestic happiness as something couples must work for through compromise, restraint and respect for each other's habits. Its advice comes with anecdotes, literary quotations and verse. The contents move from choosing a partner and making marriage vows to furnishing a home, handling money and maintaining politeness within the household.

The discussion of parenthood gives home life an educational purpose for adults as well as children. Hardy stresses the influence of affection at the fireside and urges parents to examine their own temper and conduct. References to God frame family responsibilities as moral duties. Readers interested in the history of marriage advice will find humour alongside firm expectations about husbands, wives and mothers, with practical household concerns woven into reflections on character.