The Baltimore County union., 1882-12-02
THE LOTTERY OF MATRrMoNY.


miration society of two members, even
at its best estate-that is, the couple
may be supremely satisfied with each
other, and yet their tastes and qualifi-
cations be widely at variance as regards
the traits most prominently seen by
their friends. The husbands ambition
may lie in one direction, his wife's in
another. She may not comprehend the
chief work on his mind nor much OF its
details; and yet, blessed with sweet
simplicity and disposition not to med
die, he may "outgrow" her to any ex-
tent and she yet be his pride and Joy,
and fill his eyes better than any social
butterfly that fits around him and seeks
10 claim his attention. Few great men
ever had wives great also in the qualities
that gave eminence to themselves, nor
would they care to have them, nor, per-
haps would they keep them If they had.
AS there is an accord Of differing sounds,
so there is an accord Of differing tastes
that work together in loving harmony,
and IL finds thousands Of illustrations in
the daily history of those We meet.
The growth that fails most conspicu-
ously in married life is not that so often
attributed to outward and opposing cir.
cumsiances, such as family cares in the
wife but its seat is oftener in the menal
constitution. In physical life there are
natural dwarfs, persons or animals in
capable OF development beyond a GER
tain limit, and il is the same with trees
AMI vegetables. The young man and
his inamorata may occupy to most per-
sons the same intellectual plane and yet
possess widely different capacities. The
one snatches opportunities from every
circumstance the other has reached
the limit OF development, and cannot
grasp anything beyond. This is one
danger of early marriages, perhaps the
most serious one. That analysis Of each
others qualities which more extended
observation might suggest is generally
wanting the impulse of love, or what
is supposed TO be love, is all that is val
ued and the final step istaken with little
appreciation of what il involves. With
one, growth goes on because some minds
can adapt themselves TO many varying
/ circumstances the other has reached 4
] limit, and, though there may not be
| fall back. il may seem like deterioration
10 the other as comparisons are forced
now and then between the society of
home and that enjoyed in other circles.
But If early marriages are often fail
ures from the cause referred 10, does
maturity dispcl all the dangers Ger
iainly not there are many chances of
failure 10 be removed by avoiding sin
gle difficulty. Navigaiors on the sea of
ma;rimony have laid down on their
charts innumerable shoals, quicksands
and breakers, and still new ones are
found on every fresh voyage. The vary
ing fortunes Of those who embark are
so great that the enterprise has been
well called lottery" And so it is,
in qualified sense. As no skill or ex-
perience is sufficient for the sailor in
real life as a guarantee OF unvarying
success, so nothing positive can be pre-
dicted of any couple who launch out to
test their skill as navigators on this sea
whose shores are lined with so many
wrecks. No car, iha, wisdom ever de-
vised. no stately ship, no abundance Of
worldly stores laid in for rainy days,
nor remedies for the Sea-sicknesS which
comes 10 so many souls on that sea Of
Joys and sorrows, can be depended
upon as an infallible panacea for the ills
with which they are beset. No inter
ference of family doctors, nor the pray
ers of the priest, nor anxiety OF relatives,
can 20 far of themselves alone to rebuild
family altar once broken down through
those incompatibilities which develop
between people naturally incompatible.
There is no remedy but in that reserve
of wisdom and patience by which some
minds always make the best of bad
bargain, and no hope can be held out
to those about TO embark not founded
in their ability to bear and forbear. In
other respects i, may, indeed, be call
lottery" 10 the mature As well IS the
immature, for the adolescent couple,
red.hot with love and stiffness, may
succeed almost As often as those who
fancy that Il study Of each others char
acter for many years has solved the prob
lem OF safety. When, in recent years,
Charles Summer married for the frs,
and last time at Sc, who would have
predicted that he IN year or two would
have reason TO repent step which so
many take inconsideraiely And so Of
thousands of others who might be nam
ed, long hesiiating and studying--laying
upwisdom, As they imagine, from Others
failures-and then reaching out for the
fruit which turns TO ashes After all the
the wise advice that can be given il is
not easy to decide that the young couple
who fall in each others arms without
why or wherefore except that "they
want TO" are any less safe than the
plodding reasoners who coolly analyze
and study each others traits until the
frosts Of age warn them the time to
choose is growing short.
PROFANITY. Thou shalt not take the
name of the Lord thy God in vain, for
the Lord will no, hold him guiltless that
taketh His name in vain," is an injunc-
tion as stringent and binding as that
which commands Thou shalt not mur-
DER" and men who shrink from the
latter indulge in the former publicly
and privaiely-at their meals. in their
family circles, in their places ofbusiness,
in the streets, among their equals and
their interiors, in the hearing of children,
in fact in all places men make the air
hot with their oaths and blasphemies,
spoken in rage or in calmness, in idle
lest or bitter hate. The habit Of using
profane and blasphemous language is
more widespread than it ever was, and
those who do it are unblushing in their
practice and vile in its indulgence. IL
| a.. No, ,,,,,,ar ,vh.ra men and hovs