St. Landry democrat., 1886-02-20
also, If ought but death part thee and me.


feather of the ravens wing has fallen from
her hair, after across her forehead and I'M
der her eyes and across her face there are
as many wrinkles as there are graves over
which 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,
thou 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 clamb the hill thegither;
And mony canty day, John.
We've had wi ane anither.
Now we maun totter down, John,
But hand and hand Well go;
And sleep thegither at the foot,
John Anderson, my 10. =
II any one assail her good name you win
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
tion and mine, she has 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
worthy.
Now, be honest and 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
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: ooh, that was all sem
timentalism and romance and joke" and
that "they all talk that way"
Ny 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
fn
jections of adulation. and now you think
it 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-day" 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
nestle antocrat 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 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 win soon end |
her earthly mission, and that house will be
occupied by others, and you yourself will
be gone.
Gentlemen, fulfill your contracts. Chris
Ian marriage is an affectiona1 bargain.
In heather lands a 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 q
horse and rides down where q
group of women are standing, and
'eizes one Of them by the hair, and lifts
Ter struggling and resisting on his horse,
ind If her brothers and. friends do not
'vertake her before she gets to the jungle
The is his lawful wife. In another land
he masculine candidate for marriage is
beaten by the club of the one whom he
would make his bridge. If he cries out
lnder the pounding, he is rejected. If he