Savannah morning news., 1886-02-08

0uteIbAlutnenL OF tlat nome, Mnlcu AZ bnB
longest can last but a few years, you are
doing nothing. You seem to have no re-
allzati0n OF the fact that soon these chill
dren will be grown up, or in their sepul-
chres, 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
will be gone.
Gentlemen, fulfill your contracts.
Christian marriage is an adectloual bar
gain. 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 h0rs.
and rides down where a group OF women
are standing, and seizes one Of them by
the hair, and lifts her struggling and re-
sisting ON his horse, and il her brothers
and friends do not OVertake her before size
gets to the jungle, she is his lawful wife.
In another land the masculine candidate
Tor marriage is beaten by the club Of the
one whom he would make his bride. IL
he ories out under the pounding he is re.
jected. If he receives the blows uncom-
plainingly, she is bis by right. Endurance
and bravery and skill decide the marriage
in barbarous lands, but Christian marri-
age is voluntary bargain in which you
promise protection, support, companion
ship and love.
Business men have in their ire-proof
safes file Of papers containing their con-
tracts, and sometimes they take them out
aud 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 cere-
mony, but If you have forgotten what you
promised at the altar OF wedlock, you had
better buy or borrow an Episcopal prayer
book, which contains the su bstance of all
intelligent marriage ceremonies, when IL
says: 81 take thee to be my welded wife,
TO have and 10 hold from this day forward,
for better or for worse, Tor richer or for
poorer, IN sickness and in health, TO love
and to cherish till death us do part, ac-
cOrding to Gods holy ordinance, and
thereto / pledge thee my troth." Would
It not be good idea to have that printed
in tract form and widely distributed?
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 a heavy coal scuttle upstairs, and
Will at one bound clear the width OF a
parlOr to pick up some other lady's pocket
handkerchief, There is an evil which l
have seen under the sun, and IL is COM
mon among men, namely, husbands In
Irritation. The attention they ought 10
put upon their own wives they bestOw
upon others. They smile on them coyly
and askance and with manner that
seems to say, II wish l was free from
that old drudge at home. What an inn
proVement you would be on my present
surrOundings" And bouquets are sent,
and accidental meetings take place, and
late at night the man comes TO his prosaic
home whistling and hilarious, aud
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 immeasurable for a man by mis- be-
haYiOr to seem to say TO his wite "You
can't help yourself, and will go where
please, and admire whom / please, and
defy your criticiem."
Why did you not have that put in the
bond. U, domestic Shylockg Why did
you not have it understood before you
were pronounced husband and wife, that
she should have only part of the dIvi-
dend 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
obeisanoe to cheeks more rubicund and
figure lither aud 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 q
marriage document and have said: "lt's
in the boadp' IL this modern Rebekah
had understood beforehand where she was
ahghting, she would have ordered the
camel drivers TO turn the caravan back
ward towards Padan-aram. Filtration
has its origin either in dishonesty or
licentiousness. The married man who
indulges in IL is either fraud or a rake.
However high up in society such one
may be, and however sought after, /
would not give tnree-cent piece, though
it had been three times clipped, for the
virtue OF either the masculine or feminine
flirt.
The most worthy thing for the thousands
OF married men 10 do Is to 20 home and
apologize for past neglects aud 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 trinkets
of your dead child. Take up the pack OF
yellOw-cOYered letters that we're written
before you became one. Rehearse the
scenes of joy aud sorrow in which you
have mingled. Put all these things as
fuel on the altar, and by coal OF sacred
fire rekindle the eXtinguished light. IL
was blast from hell tnat blew II out, and
a gale from heaven viii fan 10 into a blaze.
Ye who have broken marriage VOWS,
speak out! Take your wife into all your
plans. your successes, your defeats, your
ambitions. Tell her everything. Walk
arm in arm with her into places 0f amuse-
ment, and on the piazza Of summer water
ing places, and up the rugged way OF LIE,
aud down through dark raYine, aud when
One trembles on the way let the other be
reinforcement. In no case pass yourself
of az a single man practicing gallantries.
DO not, after you are 80 years Of age, in
ladies' society try % look yOung-manish.
Interfere not with your wfe's religious
nature. Put her not IN that awful dilem-
ma Ia which 30 many Christian wives are
placsd by their husbands, who ask them
10 20 70 places or do things which compel
them 20 decide between loyalty 10 God
and loyalty TO the husband. Ratner than
ask her TO compromise her Christian
character, encourage her 10 be
more and more Christian, for
there will be times in your life
when you will want the help Of all her
Christian resources; and certainly, when
you remember how mucn influence your
mother had over you, you do not want the
mother OF your children TO set q less gra-
ciOus example. IL pieases me greatly 10 |
hear the unconYerted and worldly nus |
band say about bis vile, with no idea |
that IL will get 70 her ears; "fhers Is the |
most godlyf yoman alive. Her goodness |
L..