Bismarck weekly tribune., 1888-07-20
WORDS TO THE UNWISE.
MOTIVES WHICH SHOULD GOVERN
THOSE WHO MATE FOR LIFE.

THOSE WHO MATE FOR LIFE.
Every Conssderatioo Weighed Except the
Laws Of Heredity-Crims and Disease
Transmitted from Generation 70 Gsnsr-
neutrality-suspicious. Of Sanitary Marriage
Men and women in marrying seem to weigh
every consideration rather than the natural
and scientific laws Of heredity. They form
alliances from motives Of comfort, convent
ence, business, influence, riches, pique-in
fact, for we'll nigh every purpose under the
sun except that Of securing the most perfect
offspring. Strict reasoners hold that even
the passion Of love should weigh as nothing
In the scales with that When the laws Of
sanitary parentage shall have been thor
oughly mastered and systematized and become
generally known and acted upon, then we
may look for that marked amelioration Of
our kind Of which poets and philosophers
have dreamed. Let the reader ask himself
how many instances he has known where the
sole reason for remaining single was actual
III health, or the suspicion that some faint
had been inherited which was likely to de-
velop into disease some time in after life.
he must acknowledge that If he knows Of
any such cases they are very few indeed.
The reasons for marriage are evident to all
There are, too, sufficient reasons why some
people should not marry. The latter, how
ever, weigh but little against the former. To
secure a partner to share their labors Is what
influences many men to take unto themselves
wives
MARRIED FOR HOME.
How often we hear it said that this one
and that one married for a home" The
impression would imply lack of sentiment,
and certainly does sound eminently practj
cal And yet, undoubtedly, many happy
marriages have been contracted BY those
whose first prompting was desire for that
comfort and peace ono rarely finds except ip
- home Of his own" That this is a selfish
world, none can deny. Each seeks to use tho
other for purposes Of his own, and life With
~ all is ono constant struggle, orr are soon
lsft behind In the headlong scramble Only
In our homes can we find rest. A yearninS
for sympathy prompts many to marry,
and naturally we choose mates With
kindred hopes and aspirations VIII
ourselves II ono does not marry.
he sooner or later learns to feel that the
world has little interest in him beyond what
he contributes to its welfare and selfish ends.
Man and wife labor for each others good:
each contributes to the others welfare Not
always the first reason for marriage is the
qualification of love. As has been said:
This is the highest sentiment Of the human
heart. Intellect pales before it. The sacred
book could have said nothing more exalted
when it avowed that God is love- All hu-
man hearts have somewhere and sometimesa
desire to love and be loved. A loveless life il
starved life. Love warns human nature;
1t sets it on fire. It can receive its highest
development only in marriage The loves
between friends are very beautiful, but the
love between man and woman in q perfect
marriage is divine"
These are some Of the reasons for marriage.
Others might be given, but it is purposeless
to consider them. Any one Of the manv
weighs sufficiently in any case where the ten
dency exists. The child Of consumptive
parents rarely hesitates to enter the holy
state. Nor does the young man or woman
with mother or father in the madhouse
often feel that it is duty to remain single
lest that terrible misfortune be theirs by in
heritance. In fact, Notwithstanding some
grave and fatal malady has reappeared down
the line for generation after generation, sell
dom, if ever, is a member Of that family de-
TERED from marrying, although he could
scarcely commit a greater sin when he does
10. Hence certain diseases are perpet,l-
ated which might otherwise possibly become
extinct, and children are brought into
the world to drag out sickly existence, and
eventually succumb, after months, if not
years, Of intense suffering. In the human
race there is process of natural selection
favorable to the Improvement Of the race,
80
by other infuences-money, caste and other
social considerations Choice is in this way
restricted. A rich husband is preferred to a
handsome or healthy or clever one A large
dowry may induce man to put up with q
scrofulous wife A consumptive young lady
may have good connection. An exhausted,
broken down roue may have title or an es-
tate. We know what people mean by good
match. 1t never means health or beauty or
intellect It may not even mean good morals
or disposition.
THE HEREDrrY OF CRIME
Seriously, people who think Of getting
married ought to think little more about
It, There are persons who ought not to
marry. There are persons who would be
criminal It they handed down to posterity
the physical, moral or mental results of a
bad Organization or Of their vicious demon
alization. Our most careful scientists tell US
that drunkenness is hereditary; that many
crimes are hereditary; that madness, murder
and suicide are hereditary. Our criminal
population is composed Of the children Of
criminals. The prisons are filled with
criminal race as the workhouses are filed
with race Of paupers. Change of condi-
ttons, no doubt, may redeem such race,
but it would be safer to discourage its
perpetuation. Men and women marry for
themselves when they should marry for their
posterity. The greatest gratitude man can
owe to his grandfather is for giving him
good, wise, healthy grandmother, and vice
versa. Shakespeare makes one Of his char
acters thank his mother fervently for giving
him such father. How many a man and
woman have earned the curses Of their chill
dren for giving them bad fathers or moth
ers."
Saws ona vvrifAr. ssManv think 1nva 1,a+-..,