The Orangeburg democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1879-1881, 1879-08-01
llnhsnpY MARRIAGES.

NF8kS Ot nouSenOldS. ScanQaiOuS
elopeaaents, ruinous infatuations,
crime led up to by Illicit passion, oc-
cupy distressingly large space in
the news OF the day, More impres.
sive TO the feelings than even these
affairs whose tragic details are given
to the world, is the thought that if
they have become of SO common oc-
currence, how vast must be The
amount of domestic anhappiness that
lies concealed fr5n the public eye,
but which must tend TO poison and
corrupt society. Why is it that there
are SO many unhappy marriages. ?
How is it that people who have been
drawn together by love can fall a
prey TO hatred? 70 understand these
problems completely we should have
to understand tie mystery of love,
and that is hidiat the core OF the
mystery Of being. II, as all meta.
physicians agree, our consciousness
itself is inconceivable, in thought,
how shall we trace and analyze that
rapport which establishes itself be-
tween two beings, and which we call
love. We kaoR from observation
that it is not unerring. In youth it
is almost invariably mistaken in its
apprehensions. The warm and mex
perienced imagination Of boy has
strength to raise a mortal 10 lhe
skies. His spirit hiss established a
mysterious affinity with some girl, it
may he of sterile mind and ignoble
feelings. TO him she is a lovely up
partition, the discovery Of whose
graces has enlarged his mental hori-
zon and raised him to perceptions
new aRd strqnsa. 1t is natural to
infer inward peffectiops from outer
charms. In tho saRe manner will
the true and loyal soul of some gen
tie girl epshriSs and worship the
itieal her Imagination has wrought
from the slay ofsysnme commonplace
ypnth, What warnings shall be, ut
ael, tered e a9sbe these 81 haaiaste2 The. in,
strHction of experience would doubt
less be that love adheres where enjoy.
ment fastens, and that to know
whether love will be persistent we
should examine our feelings to deter
mine whether our enjoyment of the
loved ones society is based upon
transient things or those wbic.i will
endure. Boy and girl love is gener-
ally only o form of self-conpeit. The
iomplarchcy begolten -by~the adula.
ton Of ioSe-making- is the largest in
gredient in the reciprocating feeling,
and attachments Of this sort soon run
to dissolution. But while it is fre-
Guently the case that people marry
under the attraction of pretty faces,
eyes and winning manners, without
any real appreciation of one another 8
moral qualities, how common is it for
such marriages 10 result in happy nm
ions. Tae yoke-fellows are in the
ilexile, adaptive periods of their lives,
and before the illusions disappear
they are bound together by durable
ties of affection. But then, too, it
must he admitted That, life-fellow.
ship begun with ardent attachment
too often becomes filled with cruel
and: intolerable friction, and the sa-
cred bond Of wedlock may gall like
the chains Of galley slave. The
man who is above all things a man
Of honor, will respect his marital OBJ
legations, even should his youthful
love for hia wife wear away in the
daily contact of life. In entering in
to the ties of wedlock 1t is not upon
ardent professions that lovers should
base their expectations Of happiness,
but upon one another's truth and low
atty TO duty, displayed when pleasure
is not q motive force. Under the
protection of honor love will nestle
securely, and such marriages cannot
prove unhappy.
Paul Morphy, the once noted chess
player, in his insanity imagines him
self great lawyer, with an abun-
dance Of clients. The great case that