Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-02-19

thousand, these unlicensed deDart,,ra. o,a
by moonlight are rn;n Tow,
poral and eternal. 1t is safer for y wo,,o.
jump off the docks of the East R;ver ,nd
depend on being able to swim to tho otho.
shore or get picked up by a ferry.boat. Tho
possibilities are that she may be rescned
out the probability is that she will not
Read the story of the %escapades in I'm
newspapers for the last ten years, and Ana
me a half dozen that do not mean novartn
disgrace, abandonment, police court a.
vorce, death and hell. "Stolen waters oro
sweet, and bread eaten in secret is nle.so
n But he knoweth not that tho dead
are there" Satan presides over the esca.
pace he introduces the two parties to
each other. He gets them to pledge their
troth. He appoints where they shall
meet. He shows them where they can And
omclating minister or squire. He points
out to them the ticket office of the rail
train. He puts them aboard, and when
they are going at forty miles the hour. he
jumps off and leaves them in the lurcb.
for, while Satan has a genius in getting
people into trouble, he has no genius for
getting people out. He induced Jonah to
take shlp for Tarshish, when God told him
TO go to Nineveh; but provided for the re-
creant prophet no better landing. place
than the middle of the Mediterranean sen.
The modern novel is responsible for
many of these abscondings. Do YOU think
ina young women would sit up half, a
night reading novels in which the hero or
heroine get acquainted in the usual wav
and carry on their increased friendship
until, with the consent of parents, the day
of marriage is appointed and amid the
surrounding group of kindred the vows
are taken? Oh, no. There must be flight
and pursuit, and narrow escape. and
drawn dagger, all ending in sunshine and
parental forgiveness and bliss unalloyed
and gorgeous. In many of the cases of es.
capade the idea wa implanted in the hot
brain of the woman by a cheap novel, ten
cents worth of unadulterated perdition.
Fugitive marriage is to be deplored b..
cause it almost always implies woman's
descent from a higher social plane to a
lower. If the man was not of a higher
plane, or the marriage on an equality,
there would be no objections, and hence no
inducement to clandestinity. In almost
all cases it means the lowering of woman.
hood. Observe this law: A man marrying
a woman beneath him in society, may
raise her to any eminence he himself NAV
reach; but if a woman marry a man be-
meath her in society, she always goes
down to his level. That is a law inexora-
bic, and there are no exceptions. Is any
woman so high up that she can afford to
plot for her own debasement? There is
not a State in the American union that has
not for the last twenty years furnished an
instance of the sudden departure of some
intelligent woman from an %afluent home
to spend her life with some one who can
make three dollars a day, provided he
Keeps very busy. Well, many a man has
lived on three dollars a day and been
happy, but he undertakes n big contract
whcn with three dollars a day he attempts
to support some one who has lived in a
home that cost twenty thousand dollars
per annum. This has been about the
history Of most of such %conjunc-
tions of simplicity and extravagance,
the marriage Of. OK and eagle; The
first year they got on tolerably well, for it
is odd and romantic, and assisted by ap-
plause of people who admire outlawry.
The second year the couple settle into COM
plete dislike of each other. The third year
they separate and seek for divorce, or, as
is more probable, the man becomes q
drunkard and the woman a blackened
waif of the street.
Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten
in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not
that the dead arc there.
These truant marriages are also to be de-
plored, because in most instances they are
executed in defiance Of parental wisdom
and kindness. Most parents are anxious
for the best welfare of a child. If they
make vehement and determined opposition
it is largely because it is q match unfit to
be made, and they can see for their daugh-
ter nothing but Indebtedness in that d.
r%ection. They lave keener and wiser APP
probation, for instance, of the certain do
mestic demolition that comes from alcohol
ism in a young man. They realize what
an idiot a oma is who marries a man
who has not brains or industry enough to
earn a livelihood for q family. No bureau
of statistics can tell us the number Of
women who, after marriage, have to sup
port themselves and their husbands. If
the husband becomes invalid, it is a beau.
tiful thing to see a wife uncomplainingly,
by needle, or pen, or yard stick or washing
machine, support the home. But these
great, lazy masculine louis that stand
around with hands in their pockets, al
lowing the wife with her weak arm to
fight the battle of bread, need to be re-
gurgitated from society. There are in.
Vulnerable instances in these cities where
the wife pays the rent and meets all the
family expenses, and furnishes the tobacco
n the beer for the lord of the household.
No wonder parents put OF all the brakes to
stop uch a train Of disaster. They have
too often seen the gold ring put on the fin
ger at the altar turning out to be The iron
link Of a chain of domestic servitude.
What a farce it is far a man who can not
support himself and not worth a cent in
the world to take a ring which he pur-
chased by money stolen from his grand
mothers cupboard and put it on the finger
of the bride, saying:
With this ring I thee wed and with all my
worldly goods l thee endow.
1t is amazing to see how some women