Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1859-01-18
From, the Baltimore american.
Marriages and Runaway Match

From the Baltimore american.
Marriages and Runaway Match
es.
Sometime during the last year, the New Or
leans papers contained an account of an unsuc-
cessfui attemptat elopement. The interested, and
interesting parties were young man aged ten,
and young lady aged nine. They flew on the
wings of love to the railroad station, and with
outgoing through the formalities getting tick
cts, or of even providing sufficient money for
inevitable expenses, they started on their search
for bliss. The conductor was perforce taken ln-
to their confidence after they had left the Ores
cent city some miles behind them, and he like
O tyrannical brute, sent them back to their pa
rents, regardless of their tears or threats; the
account concluding with the information that
the youthful lovers were brother and sister
We are ashamed to acknowledge that we find
no difficulty in crediting this statement; it comes
to us in very authentic shape, however; but
such is the precocity of the youths of this gen.
Grafton, and so early the maturity of the misses
in our favored land, that we are prepared to
hear of elopements in pinafores and secret en-
cagement made over O bowl OF pap.
If we reverse the natural order Of the discus
sion, and inquire first what is tho common re-
suit of such marriages, we will find that in the
large majority Of cases they do not produce the
coveted happiness. After the first excitement
passes away, after the charming romance has
been enjoyed and grown stale, after the reJolclngs
over the brilliant victory have been duly cele-
brated, there arises the necessity of counting
the cost and the vulgar elements OF bread and
butter are found to enter largely into. the re-
quirements of the connubial state. Sometimes
the young couple are possessed of sufficient
means to provide the necessaries and even the
luxuries of life, but in these cases ennul is an
earlier yisiter, because the healthful excitement
which is the product of daily occupation is want
ing. Too much Of the felicity of these hasty
marriages is found in the first success, the first
triumph over formidable obstacles and the con-
stantly recurring lesson which both learn is that
the idolized object of such boundless love is not
angelic, but human. 1t is almost infallibly GER
tain that neither party to candestine or runa-
way marriage has anything approaching aJust
estimate of the fearful responsibilities belonging
to the welded state. Under God, the entire
happiness of wife's lifetime depends upon the
feelings and conduct of the husband to whom
she may have rashly committed all her hopes.
Altogether aside from the requirements of food,
raiment and shelter, there are ten thousand in
dspensable elements in every happy household.
The ever present sympathy, which cannot be
cultivated, but which must be OF spontaneous
growth, and which is not manifested in words,
or looks or acts, but like an electric flash, pass
es from one heart to the other; the patient for
bearance, which cannot be simulated by any
amount of stoical Indifference, but which must
be the legitimate offspring of an unselish love; /;
that rare self.denal which has no sting, because
it is swallowed up in the sympathy with her
qualification for whom the sacrifice is made
All these are constantly present in the heart OF
the true husband, and he who is unconscious Of
them but lamely meets the obligation he has in
cnrred.
In the Decalogue there is single command
mept with a promise annexed "Honor thy
"father and thy mother that thy days may be
..long upon the land which the Lord thy God
"giveth thee" Some of the old divines, in OBJ.
serving the common division Of the code into
two tables, have included this commandment in
the first, which has reference TO our duties to
God-saying that the scope of the precept ex-
tends beyond the more literal meaning OF the
words. Their paraphrase is: Thou shalt
honor God in his representatives," 1t needs no
argument to show that all runaway matches, ex-
cept those so peculiar as to make them exceptions
to q general law, are in direct opposition to this
enactment. 1t requires no strained and unWar-
ranted application of the command to prove that
the daughter who fees from her parents house
in search of happiness with the man of her
choice, in her first step in lie's journey, deliber-
aey tramples upon this high command OF heay-
en-heedlessly rejects the blessings promised to
those who obey it-heaps dishonor upon the
father who begat and the mother who bare her,
and with callous indifference teaches those to
whom she is under obligations to render honor
and obedence-"how sharper than serpents
toothn it is to have thankless child. Verify
she begins life under unfavorable auspices.
There can be no doubt that the fatal cause OF
these wanton violations of divine and human
law is in the defective education of females
of this generation. The home lessons do not
sufficiently inculcate the stringent force and OBJ
legation OF that law which requires unanswerlng
obedience to parents; which demands honor
and respect and tender care on the part of chill.
dren so long as the parents live. The increas-
ing age of the child should only confer increas-
ing ability to recognize the claims OF the parents,
and no maturity of age or powers can dissolve
the relationship, or weaken the obligation ever
more resting on the child. 1t is at the treside
more than anywhere else, that those teachings
which are founded alike upon the law of God,
and the very constitution of society, are to be
enforced But not only here, but also at tie
schools, these fundamental principles of truth
and righteousness are either carelessy taught or
altogether omitted; and in their stead those
mere outside accomplishments, which have NC
value in comparison, are laboriously and cease
lessly inculcated. Upon such a foundation, the
usual super structure is fifty reared, and in its
composition are included the most false and
frivolous views of life and its responsibilities
drawn from foolish novels, and born of giddy
brains.
We might add word about the impro
priety of which Christian Ministers are gull
ty, in consenting to solemnize a marriage wher
the parties presenting themselves are manifestly
under age, or when they are acknowledged vic
ators of parental authority. The men who hole
this sacred Office are supposed to know and rec
ognize the binding obligation of Gods law
They ere supposed to know that marriage is mo-
merely civil contract, but was intended by Hin
who Instituted the relation, to be union whose
issues would be found among the rewards, or q
mid the retributions of eternity. Perhaps thu
most solemn mockery that English words car
express, would be the usual concluding sentence
of the marriage ceremony, uttered under such
circumstances Whom, therefore, God hatl
'joined Jet not msn put asunder!"
FLEAs IL HARNEss.-We learn from the New
York Day Book, that Professor Bartoletti il
that city, has caught and famed some sixty Aeas
Ta was six or seven months employed in train
ing them for public performances, but has sue
ceeded even beyond his own expectations. The
Day Book says:
"He inserts the neck of each within q collar
attached to chain, and obliges the little cap
tivas to perform all sorts of extraordinary feat;
of sagacity and strength. They turn windmills
they firht dnels with small swords: they drae