The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1886-04-16

as many wrinkles as there are graves over
" hich she has wept, you will be able truth
fully to say, in the words of Solomon's
song:
Behold. thou art fair. my love, Behold,
tEou art fair,
And perhaps she may respond appro-
priately, in the words that no one but the
matchless Robert Burns could ever have
found pen or ink or heart or brain to write:
John Anderson, my 10 John
We ciamb the hill thegither;
And mony q canty day, John,
We've had wi ane anither.
Now we maun totter down, John,
But hand and hand Wen go;
And sleep thegither at the foot,
John Anderson, my 10.
II any one assail her good name you will
have hard work to control your temper.
and if you should strike him down the. sin
will not be objectionable. BY as complete
a surrender as the universe ever saw, ex-
cept that of the Son of God for your saliva
ton and mine, she has a first mortgage on
your body, mind, and soul. and the mort
gage is foreclosed, and you do not more
thoroughly own your two eyes or your
two hands than she owns you. The longer
the journey Rebekah makes, and the great
er the risks of her expedition on the backs
of the camels, the more thoroughly is
Isaac bound to be kind and indulgent and
! ~ shonest aid pay your debts. You
promised to make her happy. Are you
making her happy: You are an honest
man in other things, and feel the import
ance of keeping a contract. If You have
induced her into a conjugal partnership
under certain pledges of kindness and val
liable attention. and then have failed to
fulfill your word, you deserve to have a
suit brought against you for getting goods
under false pretense, and then You ought
to be mulcted in large amount of dam
ages. Review now all the fine, beautiful,
complimentary, gracious and glorious
things you promised her before marriage.
and reflect whether you have kept your
faith. Do you say: "Oh. that was all sem
timentalism and romance and a joke" and
that "they all talk that way"
My brother, do not get mad at what I
but honestly compare the promises you
made and see whether you have kept
them. Some of you spent every evening
of the week with your betrothed before
marriage, and since then you spend every
evening away, unless you have influenza
or some sickness on account of which the
doctor says you must not go out. You
used to fill your conversation with inter-
jections of adulation. and now you think
il sounds silly to praise the one who ought
to be more attractive to you as the years
go by and life grows in severity of strug-
gle and becomes more sacred by the bap-
tism of tears-tears over losses, tears over
graves. Compare the way some OF You
used to come in the house in the evening.
when you were attempting the capture of
her affections, and the way some of you
come into the house in the evening now.
Then what politeness, what distillation of
smiles, what graciousness, sweet as the
peach orchard in blossom week.
Now some of you come in and put your
hat on the rack and scowl, and say: "Lost
money to-daym and you sit down at the
table and criticise the way the food is
cooked. You shove back before the others
are done eating, and snatch up the even
ing paper and read, oblivious Of what
has been going on in that home all day.
The children are in awe before the do
mestic autocrat. Bubbling. over with
fun, yet they must be quiet, and with
healthful curiosity, yet they must ask
no questions. The wife has had enough
annoyance in the nursery and parlor
and kitchen to fill her nerves with net
ties and spikes. As you have provided
the money for food and wardrobe, you
feel you have done all required of you.
Toward the good cheer and the intelli-
gent improvement and the moral enter
tainment of that home, which at the
longest can last but q few years. you
are doing nothing. You seem to have
no realization of the fact that soon these
children will be grown up or in their sep
ulchers. and will be far removed from your
influence, and that the wife will soon end
her earthly mission, and that house will be
occupied by others, and you yourself win
be gone.
Gentlemen, fulfill your contracts. Chris
tian marriage is an affectional bargain.
In heather lands man wins his wife by
achievements. In some countries wives
are bought by the payment Of so many
dollars, as so many cattle or sheep.
In one country the man gets on a
horse and rides down where
group of women are standing, and
seizes one of them by the hair, and lifts
her struggling and resisting on his horse.
and il her brothers and friends do not
overtake her before she gets to the jungle
she is his lawful wife. In another land
the masculine candidate for marriage is
beaten by the club of the one whom he
would make his bridge. If he cries out
under the pounding, he is rejected. II he
receives the blows uncomplaingly, she is
his by right. Endurance and bravery and
skill decide the marriage in barharous
lands, but Christian marriage Is a volun-
tary bargain in which you promise pro-
lection, support, companionship and love.
Business men have in their fireproof
safes file Of papers containing their con-
tracts, and sometimes they take them out
and read them over to zee what the party
Of the first part and the party of the Sec
ond part really bound themselves to do.
Different ministers of religion have their
own peculiar forms of marriage ceremony,
but il you have forgotten what you prom
ised at the altar of wedlock, you had bet
81 ~wx T. =