The Russellville Democrat., 1888-02-02

and women who gre terrificaIly sllianced and tied togetBer in hafd knoh A very hard knot. The let- ters run something like this: What ought I to do; my husband is a drunkardT' 'My wife Is a gad-about and will not stay at home.n "My companion Is ignorant and hates books and reyel in them" T like music, and a piano sets my husband crazy.', 'sI am fond of social life and my companion is a recluse." "I am trying tc be good and my lifelong associate is very bad. What shall I dol" My answer is, there are certain good reasons for divorce. ment. The Bible recognizes them. Good society recognizes them. But 1t must De the very last resort, and only after all reasonable attempts at reclamation ana adjustment have proved dead failure. When such attempts fail 1t is generally because of meddlesome outsiders, and women tell the wronged wife how she ought to stand on her rights, and men tell the wronged husband how he ought to stand on his rights. And let husband and wife in an unhappy marriage relation stand punctiliously on their rights and there will be no readjustment and only one thing will be sure tc them and that h Q hell on earth.
 If you are unhappi! / married, in most casoq advise you, make the best you cah of an awfulIy bad bargain. Do not pro feet your peculiarities more than IS neces' sary. Perhaps you may nave some faults of your own which the othNr party tn the marital alliance may have ID suffer. You are in the same yoke. If you pull aside the yoke will only twist your aeck. Better pull ahead. The world is feu of people who made mistakes about many things, and, among other things. about bStrothaI and marriage, and yet have been toler- ably happy and very useful in the strength of God, and by the grace prom ised in every time of need if those who seek 1t conquer the disadvantageous cir cumstances am acquainted with lovely women married to contempttble men and genial men yoked with termagants inspired with the devil And vet under these disadvantages my friends are useful and happy. God helps people n other kinds of martyrdom and to sing in the flame, and he will help you in your lifelong misfortune.
 Remember the patience of Job. What a wife he hadi At a time when he was one great blotch of eruptions, and his prop erty was destroyed by tornado, and. more than all, bereavement had come and the poor man needed all-wise counsel, she advises him to go to cursng and swearing. She wanted him to poultics his boils with blasphemy. But he lived right on through his marital disadvant. ages, recovered his health and his fort. une and raised a splendid family, and the closing paragraph of the book or Jot has such jublanee that l wonder people do not oftener read it:
 So the Lord blessed the latter end of Jot more than his beginning; for he had l40N sheep and 5000 camels, and ,001 yoke of oxen and 1000 she asses. He had also seven soni and three daughters. And he called the namt of the first Jemima; and the name of the sec ond Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren happuch. And in all the land were no womer found SO fair as tho daughters of Joe; and theh father gave them inheritance among theiI brethren. After this lived Job 10 years, and saw his sons and his sons sons even four gen erations So Job died, being old and full oi days.
 Now, my badly-married friend of either sex, If Job could stand it by the help oi God, then you can stand it by the same divine reinforcement. You havt other rel ations, o, woman, beside the wifely relation. If you are mother. train up your children for God and Heaven. If you are member of church, help move on its enterprises. You can get so much of the grace of God in your heart that all your home trials will seem insignificant. How little differ ence does it make what your unrighteou' husband calls you, if God calls you his child and you are an heiress of whole kingdoms beyond the sky?
 Immerse yourself in some kind of out side usefulness, something that will enlist your prayers, your sympathies, your hand, your needle, your voice. Get your heart on fire with love to God and the dis enthrallment of the human race, and the troubles of your home will be plotted out in the glory of your consecrated life. ] cry out to you, O woman, as Paul exclaims in his letter to the Corinthians: What knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband9 And if you can not save him you can help in the grander, mightier enterprise of helping save the world. Ont of the awful mistake of your marriage rise into the sublimest life O self. sacr flee for God and suffering hu manity. Instead of settling down tt nope over your domestic " oes, enlist your energies for the worlds redemp' tion.
 Some parts of Holland keep out the ocean only by dikes or walls of stout masonry. The engineer having these dikes in charge was soon to be married to a maiden living in one of the villages, the existence of which depended on the strength of these dikes. And there was to be a great feast in one of the villages that approaching evening in honor of the I-fI hat storm threatened the destruction of the dikes, and hence the destruction of thous- ands of lives in the villages sheltered by that stone wall. The ocean was in full wrath beating against the dikes, and the tides and the terror were still rising s'Shall go to the feast" says the engi. neer, Tor shall go and help my work men take care of the dikes" 'Take care of the dike," he said to himself" ]" "I must and will" As he appeared on the wall the men working there were exhausted and shouted: "Here comes the engineer, Thank God! Thank GodW The wall was giving way, stone by stone, and the engi' neer had a rope fastened around his body, and some of the workmen had ropes fas tened around their bodies and were let down amid the wild surges that beat the wall. Every thing was giving way. More stonesl" cried the men. "More mortarp But the answer came: There is no morel' Then" cried the engineer, "take off your clothes, and with them stop the holes in the wall" And so, in the chill, and darkness, and surf it was done, and with the workmen's apparel tho open. ings in the wall were partially filled. But still the tide rose and still the ocaan reared itself for more awful stroke and for the over whelmlng of thousands of lives in the villages. Now we have done all we can." said the engineer, down on your knees, my men and pray 10 God for help" And on the trembling and parting dikes they prayed till the wind changed and the sea subsided, the villages below, which, knowing nothing of the peril, were full of romp and dance and hiiarity, were gloriously saved.
 Now what we want in this work of walling back the oceans of poverty and drunkenness and impurity and sin is the