The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-02-01

nothing moro Cnan OrQluarS sGTIouuuiuSSl
but an attractive daughter carefully and
Christianly reared From the outside world
comes in man with nothing but money, un,
less you count profanity and selfishneSs and
fondness for champagne and general recK-
lessness as part of his possession. he mas MS
coat collar turned up when there Is no chill
in the air but because it gives him an air OF
abandon, and eyeglass, not because he Is near
sighted but because it gives classical ap-
DSararc,. and with an attire somewh1t loud,
a cane thick enough to be the club OF Hercules
and clutched at the mid lie, his conversation
interlarded with French phrases inaccuratey
pronounced, and sweep of manner lndicat-
ing that he was not born like most folks, but
terrestrially landed By arts learned OF the
devil he insinuetes himself into the atec-
tions Of the daughter Of that Christian home
All the kindred congratulate her on the al
most supernatural prospects, Reports come in
that the young man is fast in his habits, that
he has broken several young hearts, and that
he is mean and selfish and cruel. But all
this is covered up with the fact that he has
several houses in his own name, and has
large deposits at the bunk, and more than
all, has a father worth many hundred thou.
sand dollars, and very feeble in health, and
may any day drop off, and this IS the only
son, and a round dollar held close to ones
eye is large enough to shut out great desert,
and how much more will several bushels or
dollars shut out.
The marriage day comes and goes. The
wedding ring was costly enough, and the
orange blossoms fragrant enough, and the
benediction solemn enough, and the weaaing
march stirring enough. And the audience
shed tears Of sympathetic gladness, supposlng
that the craft containing the two has sailed
of on a placid lake, although God knows
that they are launched on Dead sea- lts
waters brackish with tears and ghastly with
ghastly faces ofdespair floating to the surface
and then going down. There they are, t9e
newly married pair in their new home. @ ne
turns out to be a tyrant. Her will IS moth
ing, his will everything. Lavish Of money
for his own pleasure, he begrudges her the
pennies he pinches out into her trembil:t,
palm. Instead of the kind words she left
behind in her former home, now there are
complaints and fault findings and curses. He
is the master and she the slave. Ihe WORST
villain on earth is the man who, having
captured a woman from her fathers home
and after the oath of the marriage altar has
been pronounced, says, by his manner II not
in words: 81 have YOU now in my power
What can you do? My arm is stronger than
yours. NV voice is louder than yours. My
fortune is greater than yours. MY name Is
mightier than yours. Now crouch before me
like a dog Now crawl away from me Ike a
reptile. You are nothing but woman, any
IL, >>N~
halls of moasic, can long lines of Etruscan
bronze, or statuary by Palmer and Powers
and Crawford and Chantry and Canova, can
galleries rich from the pencil OF Bierstadt
and Church and kenset and Cole and Crop.
sew, could flutes played on by an Ole Bull
or pianos fingered by Gottschalk, or solos
warbled by Sonntag, could wardroOes IKE
that Of Marie Antoinette, could jewels like
those Of Eugene make wife In sucn a
harny1
Imprisoned in castle! Her gold bracelets
are the chains of lifelong servitude: There
is sword over her every feast, not like that
of Damocles, staying suspended, but drop
ping through her lacerated heart Her ward
robe is full sof shrouds for deaths which she
dies daily, and she is buried alive, though
buried under gorgeous upholstery. There ls
one word that sounds under the arches and
rolls along the corridors. and weeps in the
falling fountains, and echoes in the shutting
of every door, and groans III every note or
stringei and wind instrument: WOE!
Woalo The oxen and sheep in olden times
brought to the temple of Jupiter to be sacri,
feed used to be covered with ribbons ana
flowers. ribbons on the horns and flowers on
the neck. But the floral and ri5boned decora-
tions did not make the stab Of the butchers
knife less deathful, and all the chandeliers
YOU rang over such a woman, and all the
robes with which you enwrap her, and all
the ribbons with which you adorn her, AMI
all the bewitching charms with which you
embank her footsteps are the ribbons and
flowers of horrible butchery.
As to show how wretched good woman
may be in splendid surroundings, we have two
recent illustrations, two ducal palaces IN
Great Britain. They are the focus Of the
best things that are possible in art, in lltera,
ture. in architecture-the accumulation or
other estates, until their wealth is beyond
calculation and. their grandeur beyond de-
scription. One of the castles has a cabinet
set with gems that cost s., ,OO0, and the
walls OF it bloom with Rembrandts and
Claudes and Poussins and Guidos and Raph-
aels, and there are Southdown fiocks In
summer grazing on its lawns and Arab steeds
at the doorways on the "hrst open
day at the kennels. "From tho one castle the
duchess has removed with her children be-
cause she can no longer endure the orgies
of her husband, the duke, and IN the
other castle the duchess remains con-
fronted by insults and denominations In the
presence Of which do not think God or de-
cent society requires good woman TO re.
main. Alas for those ducal country seats!
smaller scale may be seen in many places,
that without moral character III husband
all the accessories of wealth are to q wires
soul tantaliZation and mockery. When Abb
gail finds Nabal, her husband, beaStly drunk,
as she comes home from interceding for his
fortune and life 1t was no alleviatlo1 thas
the old brute had possessions in Carmel, ana
Hwas very great, and had three thousand
sheep, and thousand goats" and he the
worst goat among them. The animal In his
nature seized the soul in its mouth and ran
off with it
Before things are right In this world gc::
kool loin n Va nYnnrOaf6n instead
of being welcomed into respectable society
because of the amount Of stars and garters
and medals and estates they represent, they
ought to be fumigated two or three years be-
fore they are allowed without peril to them.
selves to put their hand on the door knob or
a moral house. The time has come when a
masculine estray will be as repugnant to good
society as a feminine estray, and no coat OF
arms or family emblazonry or epaules can
pass q Lothario unchallenged among the
sanctities of home life. BY what law of God
or common sense Is an Absalom better than
Delilah, Don Juan better than q Messalina3
The brush that paints the one black must
paint the other black. But what spectacle
1t was when last summer much OF watering
place" society went wild with enthusiasm
over an unclean foreign dignitary, whose
name in both hemispheres is synonym for
profligacy, and princesses Of American society
from all parts Of the land had him ride in
their carriages and sit at their tables, though
they knew him to be q portable lazaretto.
charnel house of moral putrefaction, his
breath typhoid, his foot that of Satyr,
and his touch death. Here is an evil that
men cannot stop but women may. Keep all
such out Of your parlors, have no recogniti on
for them in the street, and no more think or
allying your life and destiny with theirs than
"gales from Araby" would consent to pass
the HONEYMOON with an Egyptian plague
All that money or social position bad man
brings to q woman in marriage is splendid
despair, gilded horror, brilliant agony,
Dro1o, rod 1oafb end tha longer th6 mur!,u