Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-12-10
THE ALTAR.

mania for marriage seems 10 be sweep
ing over the entire South. In all the South
ern States The matrimonial market ia brisk,
and the tendency is upward. Since the adj
vsnt of the melancholy days of November
there has been a rush upon the altar. Brds
begin 10 mate when they hear the clustering
winds of March, but the first cold blast is
the signal for young people TO mate and go
into winter quarters, where the gentle
warmth OF two congenial hearts keep both
from fres zng. In the Northern STATES the
curt officials hail the announcement oil
every new marriage, because they know
they will reap a harvest of divorce
costs. The divorces in the Northern States
have increased with alarming rapidity. In
the State Of Connecticut, for the past fifteen
years, there has been one divorce to every
ten marrisges; in Vermont there has been
one divorce to every fourteen marriages; in
Rhode Island one TO everys thirteen; in
Massachusetts, one to every twenty -one; Ohio
has one 10 every eighteen, and Chicsgo one
10 every twelve marriages. In the year 1878
the bix New England States ranged from 600
10 100 divorces. Massachusetts numbers the
highest, being 800 in number, while Rhode
Island, with territory about the size OF
Shelby county, granted 100 divorces. In the
Southern States there are not on an average
more than one divorce in 100 marriages, and
il ia hoped that the extraordinary increase
in marriages will not result in an increase of
the divorce business. No doubt many ILL.,
assorted msrrisges have been made in the
South, where go many have recently engaged
In matrimony. All who have assumed the
important relation of man and wife should
endeavor to avoid the rocks on which 80
many have been sbipwrecked. Ey mutual
concessions and forbearance their destiny
will cuIminate in the serene companionship
OF happy home, and they will soon
s1Eet themselves as one
Like perfect music to noble words"
The new wife will discover that the smile
OF the clinsing vine and the oak which men
have used for generations to cozen women
into the belief that dependence is loveliness,
Is fraud and a cheat connected 10 delude
uasuspecting women. 1t is manly and gall |
liant to talk about feminine dependence and |
masculine protection; but the woman who |
nlarries, expecting TO be the ivy TO the oak,
will ind herself, sooner or later, trailing on |
tue ground, for the history OF the world |
SHOWS that the clingipg vine elings to her |
hdshand to- the sole purl ose of living 10 |
icleness and luxury. TIE woman who cox
li6ers the life Of the lilies who toll mol is as |
worthless in sdversiiy as she is expensive
in prosperity l. Is only the EFF |
reliant wife, vince hesrs is unseifsh, whose /
habits srs industrious and who has been
tehooled 10 learn that they are to be help
mates to man, that can give joy and happi- |
less to the marriage life. Tee conduct of /
some of the new husbands will reps at the old |
sfory OF The beast who returns home TO beat
his wife and refuses to contribute TO the sup
port OF Der and her children, and who is
Ispidly dragging them down TO ruin and dis
grace. II Is impossible to conceive of he'll
more tormenting than for a sensitive woman
10 be compelled to live with a man whose con-
duct makes him loalhsome to her; husband
whose very presence converts the home into
foul dungeon and causes his children 10 bids
themselves IRON his presence, and his very
coming is dresded SIS pestiiepce. Tbink OF
Ibe loneliness, the Weariness, the dreariuess,
The days and nights passed in unsatisfed !