Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1874-05-09
True Marriage.


True marriage is companionship,
and with the termination of compan-
ionship veritable divorce begins.
Wedlock, as generally seen, is cum
bersome volume, with a sweet pre-
lude Of verse followed by tedious
chapters of awkwardly constructed
prose. The poem represents COM
panionship, end the subsequent part
is withdrawal. If the companion
ship could but be preserved, each
month would prove honeymoon;
disco.ds, chickering's, and misunder-
standings, would diminish rather
than increase, because the action Of
contact wears oil angles and adjusts
uneven surfaces to one another.
Men would not sulk; women would
not regret, NOR would both turn to
the past with the unavaiIing wish to
undo the present, Their burdens
would be lighter by the sharing of
them, and their discontents be sOttencd
by sympathetic unfolding. Their
waya might be dark and devious, but
the conciousness that they should
walk, whereer they went, closely
and tenderly together, would shed
such light upon their pathway that
the darkness would te disreiled and
the Ga7ionsness made straight. Ii is
never too late to resume companion.
ahjp-woull that they who need it
most miyn. remember this, and yet
they who have surrendered it rarely
look for it ag.an. When they step
apart, the slightest channel OF their
separation hrca ieE3 AMI de,pens
until what vas q creyce becom es 4
vawuing chasm, which few have the
strength Q! coura-e IL leap. II they
would but stretch their yearning arms
across, wounded faith, broken alice
ton, bruised tenderness could pass
over the natural bril se anl be made
whole once more by receiving back
what had been their own, and must
soon again be naturally possessed
But conrsnionship Of the married is
only a portion Of that VI hich is need
full. We're there more companionship
preceding marriage, there would be
less lisharlnony and misconception
after it. How can men and women,
who have been selulously kept apart
during earl y years, expect to dwell in
concord and happiness in their ma
turity? Where is the miracle that
can convert ignorance into under
standing, and strangcness into sympa
>hy? They whose destiny is common,
whose history is written in the same
chapters, whose veal and woe are
inseparable, should be reared together;
so far as practicable, measured and
counterbalanced one with the other.
The segregation Of the saxes is unnat-
ural and wholesome; has the faint
of monkish superstition, and yields
too often noxious fruit. What can he
more absurd and mischievous than
our common mode of education? As
soon as boys and girls learn they
are such, they are separated, as if
they were wolves and lambs, and
every effort is made by pedagogy
toward their mutual alienation.
Assiduous training at school and at
home does what it can to render them
enemies, and after long slumbering,
the old enemy often breaks out in
connubial relations, and refuses to be
placated. Nothing but the inherent
and inextinguishable attraction be-
tween man and woman lhwarts the
purpose Of false discipline and per-
nicious tuition. AS the bud opens to
the sun, as the tides obey the moon,
we sentiment beings seek our mates
and recognize them by instinct.
J'mius Heart Broa0''e.
pay- Seventeen cases of Divorce