The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1860-06-29
"JnnOcent FlirtatiOnS."

Ifthere Is any feature OF American socle-
" which cries more loudly than any othcr
for reform, that feature, par excellence, is the
system Of Irritation carried on by married
women. Nine tenths Of all the divorce
suits brought by husbands against their
wives for criminality, eau be traced to "in.
nocent Irritation" And the weak victim of
an elopement almost invariably can look
back to her first error as committed at the
time when she received the attentions OF an
other than her. husband. These "innocent
flirtations" of married women are the abom-
nations Of modern society, and tend as d.
rcc,ly to subvert the domestic relations as
visiting tippling shops does to drunkenness,
Sidney Saith suys, "Sh0w me a woman
who will not blush while displaying her
beauty, grace or charms, and you will have
shown me one whose virtue hangs upon q
thread which word will cut" There are
some women who can always SEQ In the
many who surround them In their commiD-
glings with society certain attractive points
in others that their experience tells. them
are not possessed by their husbands, and
whenever they discover one Of these aPpar-
ent excellencics in others they are sure to
see corresponding deficiency at home.
Forgetting that none are perfect, such wo.
men are apt to magnify mole hills Of faults
into mountains of crimes. An uncasincss,
therefore, takes possession of them, and
they think over their husbands defects un.
Ill their happiness is destroyed, and they
are prepared to receive the attentions Of all
those who approach them, hoping and ex-
pecting to find "congeniality" which their
own iinagina,ions have convinced them
is essential 10 their happiness. This dis
quietude is heightened when they consider
that they arc bound already In matrimonial
obligations which canpot be severed, and as
society, though guilty Of the same failings,
perhaps equally with them, will look with
upon them in receiving tamil
lar attentions in public, clandesina meetings
are next in consideration, and honor and
virtue yield, willing prey to perverted
judgments and sensual appetites. The wife
seeks to keep from her husband knowledge
Of her preference for another, until from her
too on repeated intimacies with others her
heart /, utterly estranged from him. Then,
actua,ed by guilt alone, feeling herself de-
based beyond redemption, she throws of the
cloak Of privacy and emerges into the world
an outcast, despised and Stunned by those
persons equally as guilty, and by society
at large. 10 proof Of this needed? Are
no, elopements the order Of the day? Are
they not coming to be more prevalent than
any other species Of crime3 Divorces by
the dozen are Of common occurrence, and
society is continually nauseated with the
tales Of guilt brought to light by the news
papers and the courts. We are not sure
there is any remedy for this state OF things
as long as parents persist in training up
their daughters in idleness and sons in lux
ury and eflcmnacy--utterly ignorant OF the
true aim and object Of exis,encc,-wi,h on
ly parlor education for the first and "iast
life" for the other,-having no greater care
than to carefully fit their daughters in cxter-
nal appearance, for the matrimonial market,
andto establish their sons in "positions"
amongst the corrupt surroundings Of fash
ionablc society, thus giving to both an out
side show, which is entirely at war with the
real business Of life.-N. Y. Express.