"'A petted bride makes an unhappy wife.' Surely it is no true kindness to tempt us to count on an indulgence that cannot last." "There is among us," I rejoined, "a saying about 'breaking a butterfly on the wheel'-- as if one spoke of driving away the tiny birds that nestle and feed in your flowers with a hammer.

To apply your proverbs to yourself would be to realise this proverb of ours.

Can you not let me pet and spoil my little flower-bird at least till I have tamed her, and trust me to chastise her as soon as she shall give reason--if I can find a tendril or flower-stem light enough for the purpose ?" "Will you promise to use a hammer when you wish to be rid of her ?" said she, glancing up for one moment through her drooping lashes with a look exactly attuned to the mingled archness and pathos of her tone..