The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1879-07-17
LADIES COLUMN.
HARoLINE HAROLD, EDITOR.
Unhappy Marriages.

One of the saddest Characters
tics OF the time is the frequency of
accounts of marital in6delity and
the wreck of households. Scandal
Gus elCpements, ruinous infatua-
tions, crime led up to by illicit pas
sion, occupy a distressingly large
space in the news of the day. More
impressive to the feelings than even
these affairs whose tragic details
are given to the world, is the
thought that il they have become so
common of occurrence, how vast
must be the amount of domestic
unhappiness that lies concealed
from the public eye, but which must
tend to poison and corrupt society.
Why is 1t that there are so many
unhappy marriages? How is 1T
that people who have been drawn
together by love can fall prey to
hatred? To understand these prob
lens completely we should have to
understand the mystery of love, and
that is hid at the core of the mys-
terry of being. If, as all metaphysi-
clans agree, our consciousness itself
is inconceivable in thought, how
shall we trace and analyze that rap
port which establishes itself between
two beings, and which we call love.
We know from observation that it is
not unerring. In youth it is al
most invariably mistaken in it's APP
prehensions. The warm and mex
perienced imagination of boy has
strength to raise a mortal to the
skies. His spirit has established a
mysterious affinity with some girl, !
it may be of sterile and ignoble |
feelings. To him she Is a lovely |
apparltion, the discovery of whose
graces has enlarged his mental hori |
zon and raised him to perceptions |
new and strange. 1t is nstural to |
infer inward projections from outer
charms. In the same manner will |
the true and loyal soul of some gen.
tie girl enshrine and worship the
ideal her Imagination has wrought |
from the clay of some commonplace
youth. What warnings shall be ut
tered to these enthusiasts? The
would doubtless be that
love adheres where enjoyment fas-
tens, and that TO know whether love
will be persistent we should exam
inc our feelings to determine wheth-
er our enjoyment Of the loved ones
society is based upon transient
things or those which will endure.
Boy and girl love is generally only
, form Of self-conceit. The COM
placency begotten by the adulation
Of love-making is the largest ingre-
lient in the reciprocating feeling,
and attachments of this sort soon
'un to their dissolution. But while
t is frequently the case that people
marry under the attraction of pref
y faces, bright eyes and winning
manners, without any real apprecia- ,
ion of one anOther's moral quail
les, how common is it for such ,
marriages to result in happy un
ons. The yoke fellows are in the
exile, adaptive periods OF their /.
YES, and before the illusions dis
ppear they are bound together by
urable ties of affection. But then, =
DO, it must be admitted that life :
begun with ardent attach e
tent too often becomes filled with
-uel and intolerable friction, and =
le sacred bond Of wedlock may !.
all like the chains OF galley =
ave. The man who is above all =
lings a man of honor, will respect his =
arital obligations, even should his :
)uthful love of his wife wear away q
the daily contact of life. Ill en- -
ring into the ties of wedlock it is y
1t upon ardent professions that
vers should base their expectations 4
happiness, but upon one snoth- Il
s truth and loyalty to duty, dis p
aged when pleasure is not a mo- .,
We force. Under the protection of y,
NOR love will nestle securely, and :,
oh marriages cannot prove I'M f.
.ppy. -