The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1871-02-23
Why Married Persons Live Longest.
Wells on Marriage.)

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DR.. Hall: In one of his excellent "Healtl
Tracts" gives the following reasons why mar
riage is favorable to health: Bachelors ar
always in state of unrest; they feel unset
tied. IF indoors after supper, there is sens
of solitariness inducing sadness, not actua
melancholy, with all their depressing inhu
ence and many, many hours in the course o.
the year are spent in gloomy inactivity, whi.F
il adverse to good digestion aud vigorou.
and healthy circulation. His own chamber Of
house being SO uninviting, the bachelor is in.
clined toseek diversion outside, in suppers with
friends, in clubs which are introductories te
iutcmperance and RIGHTEOUSNESS, or to those
more unblushing associations, which, under
the cover of darkness, load to speedy ruin Of
health and morals and when these are gone
the way downward to an untimey grave is
rapid and certain. On the other hand, mar
riage lengthens mans life. by its making home
inviting by the softening influences which
it has upon the character and the affections
by the cultivation of all the better feelings
Of our nature, and in that proportion saving
from vice aud crime. There can be no health
full development of the ysival functions of
our nature without marriage, it is necessary
to the perfect man, for divinity has announced
that it is mot good for man to be alone"
Marriage gives a laudable and happy OBJ
ject in life--the provision for wife and child
rem, their present comfort and future wS S!ess
the enjoyment in witnessing their happiness,
and the daily and hourly participation in af
fectionate interchange Of thought and senti.
ment and sympathy; these are the considera-
tons which antagonize sorrow and Tighten the
burdens of life, thus strewing flowers and
casting sunshine all along its pathway.
Voltaire said "The more married men
you have the fewer crimes there will be-
Marriage renders man more virtuous and
more wise. An unmarried man is but half
perfect being, and requires the other half to
make things right; and it cannot be ezpected
that In this imperfect state he can keep the
straight path of rectitude any more than
boat with one oar can keep straight course
In niue cases out Of ten, where married men
become drunkards, or where they commit
crimes against the peace Of the community,
the foundation of these acts were LAID while
in single state, or where the wife is, as is
sometimes the case, an unsuitable match
d
lngs, and gives him a center for his thoughts.
his affections, and his acts. Here is home
for the eatre man, and the counsel, the affec-
tions, the example. and the interest of his
better half' keep him from cratic courses,
and from falling into thousand temptations
to which he would otherwise be exposed
Therefore, the friend to marriage is the friend
to society, and to his country"
Whatever may be said of Voltaire's theo-
o2y, his statement on the marriage question is
certainly correct. Statistics prove that large
majority Of our criminals, State prison con
victs, etc., are unmarried Think of this
that is bad, try 60 form Psr h rs esnans all
good woman, and ysu will be secure.
The Barbarism of Christendom.
The Nation thus puts the current Europe
an contrast between Christian theory and ac-
tual fact:
''Considering that last Christmasday was the
eighteen hundred and sixty ninth anniversary
ofthe birth of Christ, and that the religion He
founded was above all things the religion Of
love, the condition of she Christian world pre-
sents curious spectacle. Some forty millions
of German Christians are helping in every
way in their power to kill and MAIN similar
number of French Christians and destroy
their property. Large numbers Of young
French Christians, too, are lying in wait be-
hind hedges and in bitches trying to shoot
passing German Christians through the head !;
and, when German Christians catch them,
they shoot them through the head Over half
of France the Christian churches are turned
into hospitals for persons whom their brother
Christians have horribly gashed and mutila-
ted. In another quarter Of Europe, Russian
Christians announce their discrimination to
kill and MAIN and number of Latin Christ
ians, besides Mahommedans, that may bs ne
cessary in order to secure themselves the
privilege of keeping in the Black Sea as many
instruments for destroying human life and
property as they think proper, and the Latin
Christians reply that they will, in turn,
slaughter any number of Greek Christians
sooner than submit to any thing of the kind
Over here We do not at present propose to
kill anybody, but it is only q few weeks since
a notorious Massachusetts Christian got up
and calmly proposed, as means of making
political capital for the party, that American
oHfiatiahs Sehefhlly should go to killing Fin
glish aud Canadian Christians, and destroying
their property. on account of certain sum
Of monoy aud lsrge numbers Of the more
advanced Christians think that, although
hs was mistaken, he is still a dear, delightful,
naughty mau, and that they must really for
give him. 10 heather locker on of some
cultivation and sense of humor, tie whole
thing the festival included, would be as good
as a play"
A. z: Stewart, the New York merchant