Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-01-25

grandmother's cupboard and put 1t on the
finger Of the bride, saying, with this
ring Bthee wed and with all my worldly
goods | thee endOw."
1t IS amazing to see how some women
will marry men knowing nothing about
them. No merchant or merchantess would
sell a hundred dollars worth OF goods on
credit, without knowing whether the
customer was worthy Of being trusted.
No man or woman would buy a house
with encumbrances of mortgages and
liens and judgments against it uncan-
celled, and yet there is not an hour Of the
day or night for the hast ten years, there
have not been women by hasty marriage
intrusting their earthly happiness to men
about whose honesty they know nothing,
or who are encumbered with liens and
judgments and first mortgages and sec
sohd mortgages and third mortgages of
evil habits. No wonder hat in such cir
cumstances parents, in cOnjugatlng the
verb IN question, pass from the subJunc-
tlVe mood to the indicative, and from the
indicative to the imperative. In nearly
ali the cases Of escapade that you will
hear Of the rest of your lives, there will be
headlOng leap over the barriers OF pa
rental c0mm0n-sense and toretbOught.
"otoien waters are sweet, and bread eaten
In secret is pleasant. But he knOweth
not that the dead are there"
w e also deplOre these fraudulent es-
pOusals and this sneakmg exchange of
single life for married life, because it is
deception, and that is a cOrrOding and
damning vice. You must deceive your
kindred, you must deceive society, you
must deceive all but God, and Him you
cannot deceive. Deception does not in
lure others so much as it Injuries our
selves. Marriage is too important a cris-
is in ones life to be decided by sleight of
hand or sort Of jugglery which says:
"PrestO change! Now you see her and
now you don't" Better wait for years
for circumstances to improve. Time may
remove all obstacles. The candidate for
marital preferences may change his
habits, or get into some trade or
business that will support a home, or the
lueNorable father and mother may be pro-
noted TO Celestial citizenship. At the
right time have the day appointed. Stand
at the end Of the best room in the house
with joined hands and minister of relig-
ION before you to challenge the world that
"lt tney know of any reason why these
two persons shall not be united. they state
1t now or forever hold their peace" and
then start out with the good wishes of all
the neighbOrs and the halo of the Divine
sanction. When you can 90 out of har-
Dor at noon with all flags flying, do not
try to run blockade at midnight.
In view Of all this, charge you to break
up clandestine correspondence, if you are
engaged in IL, and have no more clandes-
tine meetings, either at the ferry, or on
the street. or at the house Of mutual
friends, or at the corner of the woods. Do
not have letters come for you to the post
Office under an assumed address. Have
no correspondence that makes you uneasy
lest some one by mistake open your let
ters. DO not employ terms of endearmentat
the beginning and close Of letters, unless
you have a right 20 use them. That young
lady is on the edge of danger who dares
not allow her mother to see her letters.
If you have sensible parents take them
into your confidence in all the affairs OF
the heart. They will give you more good
advice in one hour than you can get from
all the world beside in five years. They
have toiled for you so long and prayed for
YOU 90 much, they have your best inter-
ests at heart. At the same time let
parents review their opposition 10 pro-
posed marital alliance, and see if their
opposition is founded on IA genuine wish
for the child's welfare or on some whim
or notion, or prejudice, or selishness-
fighting a natural law and trying 10
make Niagara run up stream. Mr.. Pitt,
the Prime Minister OF England, was
always saying wise things. One day Sir
Walter farquhar called on him in great
perturbation. Mr.. Pitt inquired what was
the matter, and Sir " alter told him that
his daughter was about TO be married to
one not worthy Of her rank. Mr.. Pitt
said: "ls the young man OF respectable
familyY' "Yes.' sis he respectable in
himselfYo yes" "Has ha an estimable
characterP' YES" why then, my
dear Sir Walter, make no opposition
The advice was taken and a happy mar
Tied life ensued. Let ministers and Off
GERS OF the law decline officiating at
ciaudestine marriages. When they are
asked to date = marriage certificate
back, as We all are asked, let
them pcTemptorily decline 20 say that the
ceremony was IN November instead of
January, or decline to leave the date
blank lest Others I'LL out the record erro-
neously. Let law be passed in all our
States, as il has already been in some OF
the States, making a license from officers
OF the law necessary before we can unite
couples, and then make 10 necessary TO
publish beforehand in the newspapers, as
IL used 10 be published in the New Eng
land churches, so that il there be lawful
objection 10 may be presented, not swing
ing the buoy on the rocks after the ship
has struck and gone TO pieces. And here
il might be we'll for me to take all the rO-
nance out OF an escapade by quoting a
dozen lines Of Robert Pollock, the great
Scotch poet, where he describes the era
zled victim OF one these escapades:
"* Yet had she many days
on sorrow IN the world, but never wept.
She lived on aims, and carried m her hand
some withered stalks she gathered in the
spring.
when any asked the cause, she smiled and
said
They were her sisters, and would come ana
Her grave when she was dead. she never
spoke
OF her deceiver, father, mother, home,
or child or heaven, or he'll, or God, but still
In lOney places walked, and ever Raled
q pom the Withert stalks and talked 20 them;
T'ill wasted 20 the shadow OF ner youth,
With woe too wide 90 see beyond she died"
But now / turn on this subject an In
tenser light. We have 900 lights in this
church. and when by electric touch they
arc klndled in the evening service, u is al
most startling. But this whole subject Of
"Clandcstinc Marriages and Escapades"
/ put under more intense ght than that.
The headlight Of a locomotive is terrible
~ you stand near enough 10 catch the full
glare Of d.. As 10 sweeps around the
g. Horseshoe Curve" Of the lleghanies, or
along Inc edges Of the Sierra Neyndas, how
far ahead and how deep down and how
high up it flashes, and there is instanta-
ue0us revelation Of mountain peak and
wild beasts hieinR themselves 10 their
caFernH, aud cascades thousand feet
tall, clinging IN white terror % the precl-