The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-01-27

have known men betrothed to loving and
good womanhood resigning their engagement
and the victim went down In hasty consump-
ton, while suddenly tho recreant man would
90 I'D the aisle Of church In brilliant bridal
party, and the two promised ~ will" with a
solemnity that seemed insurance Of lifetime
happiness. But the simple fact was, that
was the first act of Shakespearean play en-
titled, "Taming tho Shrew." He found out
when too late that he had not married into
the family of tho "Graces" but into the
family of the "Furies." To the day Of his
death the murder of his first betrothal fol-
lowed him.
The Bible extols one who "sweareth to his
own hurt and changeth not" That is, when
YOU make promise keep it Mt all hazards.
There may be cases where deception has been
used at the time of engagement, and extraor-
binary circumstances where the promise Is
not binding, but in nine hundred and ninety
nine cases out of thousand engagement Is
as binding as marriage. Robert Burns with
all his faults well knew the force of marital
engagement. In obedience to some rustic
idea he. standing ON one side the brook
Ayr, and Mary Campbell on the other, they
bathed their hands in the water and then
put them on the boards of the Bible making
their pledge Of fidelity. On the cover Of the
Old Testament of that book to this day,
in Robert Burns handwriting, may be found
the words: "Leviticus, xix, ~: Ye shall
not swear by my name falsely; am the
Lord" And on the cover Of the New Testa-
ment, in his own handwriting: Matthew,
v, 33: Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but
shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths."
Suppose ship captain offers his services
to take ship out to sea. After he gets n lit
tie way he comes alongside of q vessel with
more beautiful flag, and which has perhaps
richer cargo and is bound for more at
tractive port Suppose he rings bell for the
engineer to slow up and the wheel stops. Now
l 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 walking the
bridge of the other ship. l pick up his
resigned speaking trumpet and l shout
through it: Captain, what does this means:
Did you not promise to take this ship to
Southampton, EnglanlN EYES," says the
captain, ''but have changed my mind and
have found can do BETTER and l am going
to take charge here shall send back to you
all the letters got while managing that ship
and every thing got from your ship, and it
| Will Dc I'LL IlSuU. Ou ISll AC Uiiac cho "oio
| fate for such a captain as that is too good for
him. But it is just what man or woman
does who promises to take one through tho
voyage of life, across the ocean of earthly
existence, and then breaks the promise. The
sending back of all the letters and rings
and necklaces and keepsakes cannot make
that right which is in the sight of
| God and ought to be in the sight OF man,
an everlasting wrong. What American
society needs to be taught is that bethrothal
is an act so solemn and tremendous 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 sure that
no retreat will be desired. Before that
promise of lifetime companionship any
amount of romance that you wish, any
ardor of friendship, any coming and going.
But espousal is a gate, a golden gate, which
one should not pass, unless he or she expects
| never to return. Engagement is the porch
OF which marriage 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 subject of alliance has been relegated
to the realms of frivolity and joke, and con-
| sidered 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 in
finite Importance. Weput clear out into thin
poesy and light reading the marital en-
| gagements of Petrarch and his Laura, Dante
and his Beatrice, Chaucer and his Philippa,
Lorenzo de Medici and his Lucretia, Spenser
and his Rosalind, Waller and his Sacchar-
issa, not realizing that it was the style Of
their engagement that decided their happi-
ness or wretchedness, their virtue or their
profligacy. All the literary and military
and religious glory of Queen Elizabeth's
reign cannot blot out from one Of the
most conspicuous pages of history her in
famous behavior toward Seymour and
Philip and Melville and Leicester and
others. All the ecclesiastical robes that Dean
| Swift ever rustled through consecrated
places cannot hide from intelligent people of
| all ages the fact, that by promises of mar
| riage which he never fulfilled, he broke the
| heart of Jane Warning after an engagement
| of seven years and the heart of Stella after
| an engagement of fourteen years, and the
poetic stanzas he dedicated to their excel
| lences only make the more immortal his own
| perfdy.
But suppose should make mistake"
says some man or woman, land find it out
after the engagement and before the mar
riageY My answer is, you have no excuse
for making mistake on this subject. 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
candidate for the matrimonial altar as you
are for an idiot asylum. Notice what society
your especial friend prefers, whether he is
industrious or lazy, whether she is neat or
slatternly, what books are read, what was
the style of ancestry, noble or depraved, and
if there be any unsolved mystery about the
person under consideration postpone all
promise until the mystery is solved.
Jacksons Hollow, Brooklyn, was part of
the city not built on for many years, and
every time crossed it said to myself or to
others, why is not this land built on? I
found out afterward that the title to the
land was in controversy and no one wanted
to build there until that question was de-
cided. Afterward l understood the title was
settled, and now buildings are going up all
over it. Do not build your happiness for this