Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-12-19
READY FOR A DIVORCE.
Results of ILl-Mated aIarriages-A Less,
for Parents.

-NNHAAhS va Ai---fsaNHd Lesson
for Parents.
Kate Hardy has gone to housekeeping.
p" Housekeeping didn't know that She
was married"
oh, yes; she has been married six
months and more
Why, she isn't IS years old, is she?
II seems only yesterday that she was lit
tie girl in short dresses"
She viii be II on her next birthday"
W hat kind Of a man has she married ~
Oh, a man of words and not of deeds.
as our school copybook used to say One
Of those young fellows that sit in corner
groceries with their heels braced against
the stove, smoking q cigar-more than
twelve years older than Kate. BY the
time she's grown up they'll be ready for a
divorce"
This conclusion struck me forcibly I
had been hearing great deal about divorce
Iately-sermons on divorce, newspaper ar
heies, dismal croakings and prophecies,
promnlgatious of remedies, etc. | was re-
minded of the old saying: An ounce OF
prevention is worth a pound of cure"
Here was Kate Hardy, but the other day
going to school with the other children OF
the neighborhood 4 bright, forward, rather
wliliuL girl, fretting Il little as she grew
Older at the mOnOtony OF her life and the
prosiness of her surroundings longing for
q Journey. new books. pretty room. Her
home was hopelessly commonplace. Cook
my, cleaning, sleeping, was the daily
monthly and yearly routine Once when
Kate petted some geraniums and reared
them into bloom her mother found fault
because they were in the way.
want something to cheer me up lit
tie said Kate, pleasantly.
My work is enough to cheer me up
said Mrs Hardy.
q. that moment she was dressed in g
faded calico, with her hair drawn back il
q tight little knot; she was minus collar
and her dark apron was soiled and greasy
She was not slattern. but she believed in
saving washing and in dressing according
10 her work. Kate looked from her ilow.
ers to her mother, and something not en-.
tirely unlike disgust daWned in her face
Feeling such rs was then awakened in the
young girl rapidly develops into character
We do not realize how plastic is character
in the young indeed, it only exists as emo
ton. But III some sudden heat it takes
form, and if a wrong form, can only be
changed by great suffering.
Here, then, was my little friend married
and 10 4 man unworthy of her; q man
who, by ana by, wGuld be sure to rouse
repu:sien. She would grow into a strong
man. There would be antagonism. bick
ering, wearisome efforts at adjustment, ant
IN moment of lrrepresSible and maybe
righteous anger, q resolve to separate.
This Is how many divorces are prepared
We often hear il said that the stream can.
not Use higher than the fountain. Til;
fountain is the home. There is where oul
efforts should be directed, concentrated
There are certain crimes that justly roust
the horror OF the community where they
are committed; there are other crimes tina
are smiled upon or ignored. These latter
are committed in respectable homes where
children are brought into tue world ant
then left to chance. Their bodies indeed
are cared for after fashion, but we havei
on the highest authority that "the life i,
more than meat, and the body more thar
raiment." Do not parents need teaching
upon this vital subject?
Simplicity, truth, beauty, wise restraint
wise relaxation in the home-do not these
subjects need discussion? Would they
not better become the pulpit than the re
construction Of the dry bones of & dead the
ology2 Would we have social ethics take
the place of religion? asks one. Soca
ethics are part of religion The reii.iou,
needs of the people are different from wha
they used to be. The sanctions of th,
church are not so strong in their effect,
upon the minds of men and women
Thou shalt, and q Thou shalt not" ar,
no logger felt to be commands from which
there Is no appeal. The community mus
be controlled by education, by reason b,
influence. The preacher must show now
adays shat God commands in our struct
IRE, IN mind as well rs body, not what III
commanded on Sinai merely. The IN
written law of every day life must be ex
pounded with all lis wonderful and IN
looked-for and uncxplainable variations
To teach the parents is more important to
day than to teach the children. There is T.;
need Of studying first principles in a re
stated form. The law should be delivere,
anew, and with thunderings and light
nings.
IT, then, the question is asked, how shal
divorces be prevented. we may safely an
Swer, by doing all in our power to proven
marriages, so called, that naturally lead Il
divorce. And here vast field Of education
IS spened.-l Mrs. N. L. Butte, in Phrenol
opcll Journal.