Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-10-17
THE MORALS OF sIArRIsrONY.
lThe Harris Divorce Case Life at Wa
tering Places The Result of Mar
rtpd -VWoman,s FlirantiOns, &c., &C.

The Harris Divorce Case-Lifc at Was
tcring Places The Result of Mar
ried w oman's Flirtntions, &c., &c.
tl A divorce case is now trying in New
London, Conn.,, the reported details OF which
must sicken not less than astonish all read
ers. A lady-the mother of many children,
one of them the accomplished graduate OF
n boarding school, and produced in open
court az a witness against her-runs such a
round of guilty dissipation for course of
wears, entertaining lovers almost indiscrim-
inately in the elegant home which her own
husband has provided for her, appointing
clandestine meetings with gentlemen ac-
quaintances, making prolonged Journeys
in company with gentlemen friends, wriC-
ing and receiving passionately tender let,
ters from gentlemen correspondents, anu
putting herself notoriously In the way or
marked attentions from gentlemen, aomir-
ers, that her conduct reflects a disgrace
upon her husband and her family which be-
comes at last too gross burden to be borne,
and a petition for legal separation Is re-
sorted to from motives ofself-respect alone.
The respondent in the case-a Mrs. Har-
ris-is the daughter of an old, much re.
spected and wealthy whaling merchant OF
New London, who had in years gone by
befriended her husband when poor young
man and seeking to establish himself in
business. The latter finally succeeded in
securing wealth as the leading agent and
( part proprietor of the famous, II not im-
mortal, "Perry Davis Pain Killer" which
proved In his case not merely handy arti-
Gle to have In the house, but handy thing
to construct fine house out of. Fashion,
able people may like to know that the
aforesaid villa gloried in its "blue room''
and its "crimson Toom,' its rich Wiltons
and its tapestries; and people not so fash
ionable may feel secret thrill of enNious
satisfaction in knowing that Mrs. Harris,
possibly to bring her rich husbands archi-
tectural lavshness into contempt, spoke of
it In the ''diary," in which was likewise to
be found a record of her conquests and
liaisons, as the 'Pain Killer Villa" fnit
The evidence discloses a state of things,
not only in the family relations, but In what
is popularity thought to be ''good society"
such as would bring blush TO the cheeks
of even the Pariahs of all society whatever.
The story of the trips to Newport and other
places, which introduce us to scenes too
positively vulgar to whet even pruiient
appetite for scandal, is an essentially low
and disgusting one. We select these words
deliberately, because the reported facts full
ly warrant it. These midnight earousals,
llcbnIIOuS dIblbuutS anu duNduCCSy
intinacies In the secret hooks and cor
ners of seaside hotels, horribly blasphem-
ous phrases upon female lips, are shock
ing to every sense of propriety, or even of
decency, and set people to asking II these are
veritable disclosures of that style of life at
the watering places which so many who go
there think il essential to rush into, and
which the rest, who reluctantly stay at
home, pine In spirit to enjoy. or course it
would be monstrous to insinuate that mod
esty and virtue, and true worth, and genu-
inc refinement are not one and all to be met
with at our places of public Summer resort;
but the regret and the shame Is, that these
are impudentlv pushed aside by modern
spirit which sees nothing to respect in any
thing that is possessed of less effrontery
than itself, and which only becomes the
bolder and more brazen as it is made con-
scious of its own iworthlessness and inde-
cency. 1t Is the unchecked manifestations
of this pinchbeck stuff in manners and
morals that exposes us to the merciless
judgments of well-bred tourists, whose
wonder is at loss for wo. DIS when they
see it usurping the place in public from
which all the elements of pure social life
should combine to scourge it forth without
delay. s't. %. /
This case is but one of many more very
much like it. The sin of discovery, or
rather of recklessly spurning everything
like disguise, is what the erring lady will
be chiefly condemned tor. Even after her
conduct became notorious, she was not
driven out from circles which would have
resented an imputation on their perfect re-
spectability in a white heat OF Indignation.
1t is lamentable fact, that she will be pill
loried by popular opinion, while her alleg-
ed sins and exaggerations are condoned.
What does this statement therefore imply,
unless it is that the standard of public
morality is become too much corrupted to
deserve to be set up for standard any
longer-and that, If we can but succeed in
covering up sin. or at least in diluting it
through the ready aid of subtle social in
fluences, to the consistency of scandal
merely, permission is freely had to con-
tinue in a guilty course of conduct to the
last limit where temptation stretches out
its treacherous hand? 1 i.
The sacred obligations of the marital re-
lation, too, are held in shamefully light es-
TEEN in these latter days OF free thinking
and freer conduct. 1t is hardly to be ex-
pected that noble woman can betray the
same devotion for a grabbed old hunks of a
husband which man of more elevated cast
of character would naturally inspire her
with; nor that an indulgent and over-affec-
ti0nate man can continue TO lavish the
wealth of his heart upon an unworthy wife,
who is wife but in name, and dispenses
her favors among the opposite sex with the
reckless prodigality OF a Catherine or a
Cleopatra. But there is still code of mar
ital morals in existence, which, to insure
even domestic comfort and social decency,
must be kept with something like scrupu-
lous exactness; If not out of self.respect
alone, then surely for the sake of children
and friends, and the general health of soci-
ETY.. And they who defantly snap their
fingers in the face oftheserequiremeuts, de-
serve prompt expulsion from all respectable
circles instead of that half-timid liberation