The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1888-02-23


water and then put them ON the boards Of
Bible, making their pledge of fidelity.
On the cover of the Old Testament OF that
book to this day, in Robert Barns hand
writing, may be found the words: 'Levit-
icus, xix, u: Ye shall not swear by my
name falsely; am the Lord" And on
the cover of the New Testament, in his
own handwriting, "Mathew, v, 80: Thou
shalt not foreswear thyself, but shalt per.
form unto the Lord thine oaths."
Suppose ship captain offers his ssrv-
ices to take ship out to sea. After he
gets little way he comes alongside Of q
vessel with q more beautiful flag, and
which has perhaps a richer cargo and is
bound for more attractive port. Sup
pose he rings bell for the engineer to
slow up and the wheel stops. Now see
the captain being lowered over the side
OF the vessel into small boat, and he
crosses to the gayer and weather. craft,
and climbs up the sides and is seen walk
ing the bridge of the other ship. pick
up his resigned speaking trumpet and I
shout through it: Captain, what does
this mean? Did you not promise to take
this ship to Southampton, England"
"Yes," says the captain, shut l have
changed my mind, and have found can
do better, and am going to taxa charge
here. I shall send back to you all the LETT
ters I got while managing that ship, and
every thing I got from your ship, and it
will be all right" You tell me that the
worst fate for such captain as that is
too good for him. But it is just what
man or woman does who promises
to take enc through the voyage
Of life, across the ocsan of earthly
existence, aud then break the promise.
The sending back of all the letters and
rings and necklaces and keepsakes can
not make that right which is in the sight
Of God, and ought to be in the sight of
man, an everlasting wrong. What Amer
lean society naeds to be taught is that bs-
trothal is an act so solemn and tre-
mendous that all men and women must
stand back from it until they are sure
that it is right, and sure that it is best
and surc that no retreat will be desired.
Before that promise of lifetime companion
ship any amount of romance that you
wish, any ardor of friendship, any COM
ing and going. But espousal is gate,
golden gate, which one should not pass
unless he or she expects never to return.
Engagement is the porch of which mar
rage is the castle, and you have no right
in the porch if you do not mean to pass
into the castle.
The trouble has always been that this
whole subj4 ct of afiiancs has been rele-
gated to the realm Of frivolity and joke,
and considered not worth a sermon or
even serious paragraph. And so the
massacre Of human lives has gone
on, and the devil has had it his own
cruel way; and what is nightly needed
is that pulpit and platform, and printing
press, all speak word of unmistakable
and thunderous protest on this subject of
infinite Importance. We put out into
thin poesv and light reading the material
engagements Of Petrarch and his Laura,
Dante and his Beatrice, Chaucer and his
Philippa, Lorenzo de Medici and his
Luerelia, Spencer and his Rosalind, Wal
Ter his Saucharissa, not realizing that it
was andthe style of their engagement that
dec ded their happiness or wretcheduess,
their virtue or their profgacv. All the
literary and military and religious glory
Of Queen Elizabeth's reign can not blot
out from one of the most conspicuous
pages Of history her infamous behavior
toward Seymour, and Philip, and Mel
vile. and Leicester and others. All the
ecclesiastical robes that Dean Swift ever
rustled through consecrated places can
not hide from intelligent people of
all ages the fact that by promises
of marriage which he never full
filled he broke the heart of Jane
Warning after an engagement of seven
years, and the heart of Stella after an en-
gagement of fourteen years. and the
poetic stanzas he dedicated to their ex-
cellences only make the more immortal
his own perfdy.
"But suppose I should make mistake, -
says some man or woman, "and find it out
after the engagement and before mar.
riageW My answer is, you have no ex-
cuse for making mistake on this SUBJ
1ect. There are so many ways of finding
out all about the character, and
preferences, and dislikes, and habits
OF man or woman, that if
you have not brain enough to form
right Judgment in regard to him or her,
you are not SO fit a candidate for the mat
rImonlal altar as you are for an idiot asy-
ium Notice what society your especial
friend prefers. whether he is industrious
or lazy, whether she is neat or slatternIv,
what books are read, what was the style
OF ancestry, noble or depraved, and if
1AoIo DS t.Hy AuSOiVeu mystery ABOUT the
person under consideration postpone all
promise until the mystery is solved.
Jackson's Hollow, Brooklyn, was part
OF the city not built on for inanv years,
and every time l crossed it I said to N.Y.
self or to others, why is not this land
built on? I found oat afterward that the
title to the land was in controversy, and
no one wanted to build there until that
question was decided. Afterward I m
derstood the title was settled, and now
buildings are going up all over it. Do
not build your happiness for this world on
character, masculine or feminine. that
has not settled and undi sputed title to
honor, and truth, and sobriety, and kind :.
| ness, and righteousness.
woman, you have more need to pause
before making such an important promise
than man, because if you make mistake
it is worse for you. If man blunder
about promise of marriage, or go on to an
unfortunate marriage, he can spend his
evenings away, AMI can go to the club,
or the Republican or Democrat
ic headquarters, and absorb his
mind in city, or State and National cleo.
lions, or smoke himself stupid, or drink
himself drunk. But there is no place of
regular retreat for you, o woman, and
you could not take narcotics or inroxi-