The Monitor., 1885-01-09
s-ELUPEMENTS."


Few people especially among the youth
full, think and speak of marriage with the
seriousness which it merits. If the topic is
touched at all, it is in a .ocular manner,
and as a subject for badinage and amuse-
ment. Levity carries the young into COM
plications from which they cannot well re-
treat. In any other engagement which
connects two lives as friends, partners, COM
panions or business correspondents, caution
is exercised, though the connection be one
which can at any time be severed upon due
notice. But the marriage-tie, which
binds for life, and the bonds of which can
not be severed without distress. notoriety
and often shame and scandal, is as care
lessly assumed as if the happiness of a
lifetime were not made or marred by it.
OF all marriages those which are begun by
elopement are among the most unfortu-
nate 1t is not to be denied that there are
some very rare exceptional cases i'll which
the parties do not regret the union; but
even in these tie wish must be felt that
lilSlt hClC l1O jliGiuOliCS III bilC lAVuoCA4Old
which it were better that the children
should not hear Of The parents of NAL
riageable children have naturally and
properly an anxiety concerning their fu-
ture which the young people themselves
scarcely appreciate And when the family
records register an imprudent, if not bad
example; a fortunate escape rather than a
well-considered undertaking, it is not to be
wondered that the authority of parents is
not held in respect
Whether for good or for i'll private life
has in these days become impossible, ex-
cept to those whose lives, to all but their
immediate friends, pass unseen and un-
known. Such peaceable obscurity is
among the happiest conditions. But who
ever goes out of the ordinary routine of life
in its family and social aspects at once
draws the fire. and becomes the quarry
of the interviewers. There are persons
who like this, and court notoriety. The
real sufferers in such cases are their friends;
and where an elopement takes place, their
parents and family connections. With all
sensible people, the acute distress of the
father and mother is present to the
thoughts. The cry of the poor old king is
read between the lines of the flippant re-
port:
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is
To have n thankless child.
For thankless child it must be who will
deliberately and cruelty deceive the parents,
to whom respect and affection are due.
Hasty and unadyised marriages are bad
enough, and fruitful i'll unhappiness, even
when the consent of friends is wrung from
them. 1t is usual to attribute the misery in
the world to intemperanee and other vicious
habits. There are however, causes behind
actual viciousness. Much of the unhappi-
ness and want which exist are traeeable to
imprudent marriages. The woman who
promises to'love and honor one of whom
she is not sure that he possesses a loveable
and honorable character, may entail upon
herselfa life of wretchedness. And the man
who heedlessly covenants to keep t he life,
is taking responsibility of which he
should well ponder the weight. The mex
perience of youth-seorning the wisdom Of
those who are capable of advising, will
often persist. But if you must marry,
don't run away to do it, lest You wish
afterward that you could only run back
Phild. Ledger.