The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1875-03-01
MARRIED LIFE.
Its Jars aud Its Troublrs--A nit or Advice
from Supreme Court Judge,

Its Jars aud Its Troubles--A hit or Advice
from n Supreme Court Judge.
In denying the preliminary application
Of q wife to enable her to bring suit
for divorce against her husband, Judge
Donohue, OF the New York Supreme
Court, gave some very sound advice to
married people who are troubled with
"incompatibility Of temperament. {"
The case, whose abrupt termination ai.
forded the occasion for these remarks,
appears to haye'been very frivolous one.
The "cruel and inhuman treatment {"
complained OF by the wifc seems to have
mainly consisted Of occasional exhibi-
tions OF boorishness on the part OF the
husband. On one occasion lle was bored
with her piano playing, and attempted
to summarily stop the annoyance by
closing the Lid Of tho instrument. His
wife resisted, and got her fingers
pinched. AT another time he refused to
bulge from the two chairs he occupied
before the window to enable her to re.
move some pet birds which were hang.
ing outside. A third specification 70.
lated to tho violent ringing Of the door
bell at night by the defendant. Acts like
these were the head and front Of the
husbands offending, and yet thoy were
deemed sufficient to warrant demand
for alimony and On allowance for counsel
fees, 10 enable the wife to prosecute a
suit for divorce from bed and board.
There seems to have been evidence
enough in the case to secure n verdict
from any female jury that tho husband
had behaved like "brute." But then,
had his wife's temper and conduct no
share in making him sol It was very
wrong to close the piano OH his wite's
fingers, but was 1t quite right to insist
on compelling q man to listen to music
that lie did not wantl Is It wise to make
q mans home so disagreeable TINT he
must either seek quiet and repose out
side Of 1t, or resort to force to secure
them insidei As to the pet-bird episode,
1t would be interesting to hear in what
kind Of tone the wife asked her husband
to sit oil one side aud before condemn.
ing without reserve that mOrosc and
surly person, it might be only fair to
give him some credit for dim feeling
Of regret that the woman he had couted
in days gone by had love to spare for her
cnnaries, but mono for him. Again, why
should u wife's nerves be jarred by her
husbands ring at tho door.bell, even il
were late ut night There arc women
who find more melody in thatsound than
is contained in all the seyen.octayes OF
their pianofortes, or all the artless trills
Of their pet canaries. Was II not partly
her own fault that the plaintiff in this
case found the midnight ring no dis.
agreeable to her neryes1
We submit these points less with refer.
ence to the liigant Thompsons than to
the scores of married couples whose
difficulties" are fairly illustrated by
the complaint in the case In question.
The old.fasllioned theory Of mutual obi.
cation in the marriage relation Is good
deal lost sight OF in these days. Men
arc too apt to carry their business fneos
and their business thoughts home with
them, and so bring nothing but coldness,
hardness, and reserve to the society OF
wifo and children. On the other hand,
women are not ready enough to make
allowance for the wear md tear OF our
commercial life upon the nerves and
temper Of the man who Inns to bear the
brunt OF the struggle. It is to q very
large extent for their wives nnd clildrenfs &
sakes that men are tempted to overtax
their energies, and TO make themselves
prematurely old, in the cndcayor 10 get
rich or to maintain q certain social posi-.
tion. There are many things tint cloud
mans brow and sour his temper, about
which he cannot take his wife into his
confidence. She would probably not
understand them II he did, and the at.
tempt to translate these troubles into
definite speech is to many men q more
acute pain than to simply endure them.
Women may have noticed tho fact that
the boiling kettle continues to bubble
for o little after it has been lifted from
the fire. In the same way the Rctive
brain Of the hard.workcd professional or
business man will, in spite Of himself,
run on tho affairs Of his Office after he
has come within the precincts OF home.
A wise wife will make allowance for the
occasional gruHness whose source she
cannot understand, md will make it her
business TO smooth out the hard lines Of
the troubled face, and gently to allow
tho soothing influence Of a pleasant home
TO work its gradual but certain cure.
or course, deeper than all fanlts Of
heedlessness or want Of heart is the
radical moral error Of forgetting what
the marriage covenant is. As Judge
Donohue reminded the sensitive Mrs.
Thompson, people take in marriage
"certain duties on themselves, md un-
dertako to bear the inhrmities Of hu-
manity which each possesses.' Whether
"ior better or for worse, for richer or
poorer" is expressly oonvenanted or
not, the conditions are distinctly under
stood, and married poeple are as OBJ
viOusly bound to accommodate their
tastes and tempcrs TO each other as they
arc to respect the inviolability Of their
neighbor'B property. They havo no
right to subject their children, II they
have any, to tho tlemoralizing influences
OF contentious home, or to tho shame
from q broken marriage
bond. They have Just as little right to
weaken tho tic which holds society to-
gether by treating the marriage vow as q
thing torminAble at the caprice or the