The Brookhaven leader., 1886-02-25


and read them over to see 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 II you have forgotten what you prom
ised at the altar Of wedlock, you had bet
ter buy or borrow an Episcopal prayer
book, which contains the substance OF all
intelligent marriage ceremonies when It
says:
take thee TO be my welded vito, to have
and to hold from this day forward. for bet
ter or for worse, for richer or for poorer. in
sickness and in health, to love and to cher
ish till death us do part, according to Gods
holy ordinance, and thereto I pledge thee
my troth.
Would il not be good idea to have that
printed in tract form aud widely distrib-
uted?
The fact Is that many men are more kind
to everybody else's wives than to their
own wives. They will let the wife carry
heavy coal-scuttle upstairs, and will at
one bound clear the width of parlor to
pick up some other lady's pocket handker-
chief. There is an evil which l have seen
under the sun, and il is common among
men, namely, husbands in Irritation. The
attention they ought to put upon their own
wives they bestow upon others. They
smile on them coyly and askance and with
a manner that seems to say: 81 wish was
free from that old drudge at home. What
an Improvement you would be on my pres
ent surroundings" And bouquets are
sent, and accidental meetings take place,
and late at night the man comes to his pro-
safe home whistling and hilarious, and
wonders that the wife is jealous. There
are thousands of men who, while not posi-
lively immoral, need radical correction Of
their habits in this direction. 1t is mean
ness Unreasonable for a man by his be-
havior to seem to say to his wife: lyon
can't help yourself, and l will go where
please, and admire whom 1 please, and /
defy your criticism"
Why did you not have that put IN the
bond, Oh, domestic Shylock? Why did you
not have It understood before you were
pronounced husband and wife, that she
should have only part of the dividend of
your affections, that when, as time rolled
on and the cares of life had erased some Of
the bright lines from her face, and given
unwieldiness to her form, you would have
the reserved right to- pay obeisance to
cheeks more rubcund and figure 1.-THE and
more agile, and as you demanded the last
pound of patience and endurance on
her part, you could, with the
emphasis of an Edwin Forrest or a
Macresdy, have tapped the eccentric mar
riage document and have said cts in
the bondw If this modern Rebekah had
understood beforehand where she was
alighting, she would have ordered the
camel drivers to turn the caravan back
ward toward Padan -aram. Filtration has
its origin either in dishonesty orlicentious-
ness. The married man who INDUCES in
it is either fraud or a rake. However
high up in society such a one may be, and
however sought after, would not give
three-cent piece, though it had been three
times clipped, for the virtue of either the
masculine or feminine fiirt.
The most worthy thing for the thousands
of married men is to go home and apollo
gize for past neglects, and brighten up
their old love. Take up the family Bible
and read the record of the marriage day.
Open the drawer of relics in the box
inside the drawer containing the trink-
cts of your dead child. Take up the
pack of yellow covered letters that were
written before you became one. Rehearse
the scenes of Joy and sorrow in which you
have mingled. Put all these things as fuel
on the altar, and by a coal of sacred fire
rekindle the extinguished light 1t was a
blast from hell that blew it out, and gale
from Heaven will fan it into a blaze.
1t pleases me greatly to hear the
unconverted and worldly husband say
about his wife, with no idea that
it will get to her ears: "There is the most
cody woman alive. Her goodness is per-
petual rebuke to my waywardness. Moth
| ing on earth could ever induce her to do a
wrong thing. hope the children will take
after her instead of after me. If there is
| any Heaven at all, l am sure she will go
| there"
Aye, my brother, do you not think it
would be wise and safe thing for you to
join her on the road to heaveni
You think you have a happy home
now, but what a home you would
have if you both were religious What
new sacredness it would give to your mar
ital relation, and what new light it would
throw on the forehead of your children. In
sickness, what comfort! In reverses OF
d
triumph! God meant you to be the high
priest of your household. Go home to-day
and take the Bible on your lap, andgather
all your family yet living around yod, and
those not living will hear of it in fash,
and as ministering spirits will hover
father and mother and children gone, and
all your celestial kindred. Then kneel
down, and if you can't think of prayer tc
offer, l will give you a prayer, namely:
| sLord God, I surrender to thee myself
and my beloved wife, and these dear chill
dren. For Christ's sake forgive us all the
| past and help US for all the future. We
have lived together here; may we live to-
| gether forever. Amen and amenW Dear
| me! what stir it would make among your
| best friends on earth and in heaven!
Joseph H., tho Emperor, was so kind
and so philanthropic that he excited the
unbounded love of most of his subjects.
He abolished serfdon, established tolera-
ton and lived in the happiness of his peo-
pie. One day while on his way to Ostend
to declare it free port, and while at the
head OF great procession, he saw wom-
an at the door OF her cottage in detection.
The Emperor dismounted and asked the
cause of her grief. She said that her hus-
band had gone to Ostend to see the En-
peror and had declined to take her with
him, for, as he was an alien, he could not
understand her loyal enthusiasm, and that
it was the one great desire of her life tc
ness and greatness she had an unspeak-
! 4 !: