The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1875-10-29

I hum n Lecture on"Lovc, "by Robert Collycr.
/ want 10 tell story in which have
+ tried 10 open this great secret of staying
married, in the light that comes by the
time one gets round 10 the silver we'd
4 ding, a. my wife aud did, last April.
/ II is about young man who set out to
seek a wife, aud who found one. as all
I young men do who set ont in dead earn
est; and when they were married he
knew very little about her, and she
knew very little about him, beyond
/ this they were both born of a good,
honest stock, and raised in a good,
wholesome way; and she had To 90
I home with him and live with that per-
son our new satiriSts are girding at SO
unfairly mothcr-in-law. Aud what
would come out of il? They had no
I idea the whole future was as yet in the
shadow except for the light Of love that
was in their hearts; and when they
came 10 be alone in their chamber they
knelt down and prayed this prayer
"Mercifully ordain that we may grow
old together
Ii was one Of those weddings for
which some persons predict "a lcisurcly
repentance love nj first sight, followed
by brief courtship-and then the min
lister, and friends, congratulations. kiss
cs, tears, laughter, supper, whichthey
ate no doubt looking slyly al each other,
and half wondering whether il could bc
possible that they We're really husband
and wife, as the man had said, rs long
as they both should live, They were
both quite young. they did not know
much of the world they had lived in.
and nothing 1t an of the world they
were entering. Could he hold his own
as bread-winner. and she as bread
maker? Could he keep a house over
her head, and could she make il bright
and trim a. man loves 10 see il when
he comes home tired and wants 10 rest?
Would he turn out selfish in his home,
or self-forgetful? or she frivolous Cos
sip, or wife he could trust like his
own right hand? Would the sunshine
break out in his face as he entered his
own door and met the sunshine break
ing out on hers? Or. would he save al
his ~narl- until he had shut the door
and sat down 70 supper, and she give
back him his own with usury? There il
All lay before them, the vast untroddcn
possibility leading Ia heaven or 90 hell
by the time they came 10 their silver
wedding. There was but one wish in
their hearts. come what would. resting
there, as the lark i'm spring rests in my
old homeland among the wild thyme.
and then IL scared a. the lark scars sing
ing into heaven; and tins was the bur-
den Of their song. Mcrcifully ordain
that we may grow old together.
But this most touching cry would be
OF no use If il did not stand through al
thc time To come az once rs safeguard
and au inspiration; safeguard against
some things that prevent "a, from grow
ing old together, and an inspiration 90
some that help a.. W was a natural
lodging just then voicing itself out Of
their hearts They felt sure they had
been made for each other, and while
they knew that time must turn the raven
10 white. furr0w the brow. blench the
bloom. bend them down with It's bur-
deus. and touch all their faculties with
It's wintry frOsts. If they should live. still
they wanted the good God 10 deal them
out an even measure. together. This
seems 10 me to be the binding word
together then rs now, in the autumn
a in the spring, in taking as in giving.
until the silver cord was loosed and they
were borne away not far apart 10 the
life to come.
But looking first at the most outward
thing Of all. there was danger. if they
did not take care, that their prayer
would not and could not be answered.
They might both grow old that must
be as God ordained; and they might
live togetherwhilc life should last-that
must be as they ordained; but this day
might be, for al that, the end Of their
equality in age. II he was one Of those
men we have all known. whose body and
soul is given over 10 business, while she
was one of those women who take life
easy and run no risks, he might be a
broken down old m..4 with great for
tune. while She was still young enough
to enjoy il; or if he has a secret vice,
such as keeping ice-water on the side
board and a sample-room in the closet,
or any other Of those subtle aud dam
gerous devils that are always watching
for a chance 10 drag man down, while
She held her life sweet and true, then
long before their silver wedding he
might be in his grave Or be iii for very
little out oft, an old man IN middle age,
feeling the warming finger Of paralysis
in his shoulder, or the bolts Of inilam-
matory rheumatism in his marrow, q
broken man that she has To care for like
frctful child.
Or, If She poor woman, is beginning
this welded life A. so many Of our girls
do, without the sturdy womanhood Of
the open mir, with a bloom on her blessed
face like that YOU see on the blossom in
hot-house, while he has the strong vi
tally in him Of the hills, by the time