Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-01-28
-
ioWcu nm.

usedia tho time of engagement, and extraor-
binary circumstances where tho promise is
not binding, but i'll nine hundred and ninety
ninocases out Of tho Isand engagement is
as binding as marriage. Robert Burns with
all his faults we'll knew the force OF n marital
engagement. In obedience to some rustic
idea eho, standing OH one side the brook
Ayr and Mary Campbell on the other, they
batbed their hands in tho water and then
put them on the boards OF tho Bible making
theirpledge Of fidelity On the cover of tho
| 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
Lordn And on the cover Of the New Tcsta-
ment; in his, own handwriting: Matthew,
v, 3333:ssTEhou shalt not forswenr thyself, but
shnlt.perform unto the Lord thine oaths "
Suppose ship captain offers his services
totaae:n,ship out to sea. After no gets a liz
Ito wdYhe comes alongside of q vessel with
more eautifult flag, and which has perhaps
richer cargo and is bound for a more at
tractigeport: Suppose he rings n bell for the
onginssT5 &c. slow p,nnd tho wheel stops. Now
sec sheSaptnifns being lowered oricrt side
of tl3 IeSsel int laoat, and he crosses
to tho 60 ef and wealthier craft, and climbs
up the sides, and is seen walking tho
bridge. of the other ship. l pick up his
resigned speaking trumpet and | shout
throughit: Captain, what does this mcana
Did you not promise to take this ship to
Southampton, Englanl?a eyes," says tho
captain but have changed my mind and /
have, found Gun do better, and l am going
to tal,echargo hero: / shall send back TO you
all the letters got while managing thnt ship
and everything got from your ship, and it
will DO all right You tell me that the worst
fate for such u captain rs that is too good for
him. ( But it is just what man or woman
does who promises to take oie through tho
voyage of life, across the ocean of earthly
existence, and then breaks the promise Tho
sending back of all the letters and rings
and necklaces and keepsakes cannot make
TINT right which is in the sight of
God and ought to be in the sight of man,
IN everlasting wrong. What American
society needs to he taught is that betlrothal
is an act so solemn and tremendous that all
men and women must stand buck 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
nrdor of friendship, any coming and going.
But espousal is gate, q golden gate, which
one should not pass, unless he or she expects
never to return. Engagement is tho porch
of which marriage is the castle, and you have
no right in the porch il you do not mean to
pass into the castle.
Tho trouble has always been that this
whole subject of alliance has been relegatcd
to the realms of frivolity and joke, and con-
sidered not worth sermon or even u serious
paragraph. And so the massacre of human
| lives has gone on and the dovil has had it his
own cruel way, and what is nightly needed
is that, pulpit and platform and printing
press 6ll speak word Of unmistakable and
thundafous protest on this subject of in
finite ifnpo1 ::anco. Weput clear out into thin
poesyEand light reading tho marital ell
casements of Petrarch and his Laura, Dante
md his Beatrice, Chauccr and his Philippe,
Lorenzo dc Aledici and his Lucretia, Spenser
md his Rosalind, Waller and his Sacchar-
issa, not realizing that it was tho style of
their engagement that decided their happi-
ness or wretchedneSs, thor virtue OF their
proticacy. All the literGSy and military
and religious glory of Queen Elizabeth's
reign cannot blot out from ono 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 rustlcd through consecrated
places cannot hide from Intelligent people of
| all ages the fact, that by promises Of mar
| riage which ho never fulfilled, he broke the
heart of Jane Warning after an engagement
of seven years and the heart of Stella after
on engagement of fourteen years, and the
poetic stanzas he dedicated to their excel
lences only make the more immortal his own
perlidy
.Bnt suppose I should make q mistake"
saws some man or woman, land l find it QUO
after the engagement and before the mar
riageg' My answer is you have no excuse
for making a mistake on this subject. There
arc 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
slattcrnly, what books arc read, what was
the stylc of ancestry, noble or depraved, and
| if there be any unsolved mystery about tho
person under consideration postpone oil
promise until the mystery is solved.
Jaclison's Hollow, Brooklyn, was part of
the city not built OH for many years, and
every time crossed it said to myself or to
others, why is not this land built ona
found out aftcrward that tho title to the
land was in controversy and no one wanted
to build there until that question was de-
cidcd Artcrward / understood the title was
settled, and now buildings are going up oil
over it. Do not build your happiness for this
world OH q character, masculine or feminine
that has not settled and undisputed title to
honor and truth, aud sobricty and kindness
and Righteousness.
| Oh woman you have more need tn pause be-
fore making such an important promise than
man, because il you make a mistake it is
worse for you. If man blundcr about
promise of marriage, or so on to all unfortu-
nate marriage, he can spend his evenings
away. and can 90 to the club or the Republi-
can or Democratic headquarters, and absorb
his mind i'll city or state OF national elections
or smoke himself stupid, or drink himself
drunk. But there is no place of regular re-
treat for you, oh woman, and you could not
take narcotics or intoxicants and keep your
responsibility. Before you promise, pray
and think and study and advise. There will
never again in your earthly history be
time when you so much need God.
1t seems to me that the world ought t.,
cast out from business credits and from good
neighborhood those who boast OF the number
,f hearts they have won, Us the Indian
boasts of the number of scalps he has taken
If man will lie to a woman and woman
will lie to a man about so important a mat
ter 81 that of lifetime's welfare, they will
lie abaut q bill Of goods and lie about finances
! and lie nl1out anything Society today is