Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-02-01

Jephthah's daughters sacrificed as burn
offerings. The whole subject needs to b.
taken out of the realm of coined.
to understand that, while there ar
| ENxceptions to the rule, once having sol
Iemnly pledged to eavh other, heart an,
| hand, the forfeiture and abandODmeu
of that pledge makes the transgressor in th
sight of Goo peiju, er, and 80 the day o
Judgment will reveal it. The one has lice
TO the other; and all liars shall have theil
place in the lake that burncth with FIRE an,
birthstone.
If man or woman make a promise II
the business world, is there any obligation
to fulfil it? If man sign note for fiv,
hundred dollars, onght he to pay it? If ,
contract b. signed involving the building o
house or the furnishing of a hill of goads
ought they stand by that contract? ''Oh
yes," always answered. Then / ask th'
| further question:: Is the heart, the happi
| ness, the welfare. the temporal, the eternal
destiny of man or woman worth as mucf
as the house, worth five hundred dollars
worth anything The realm of profigacy
| is filled with men aud women as a result u
the wrong answer to that question. The
most aggravating stupendous and God
defying lie is lie in the shape of broker
espousal.
But suppose man changes his mind
| ought he not back out? Not once in ter
| thousand times. What if I change my
mind about a promlsory note and decline
| to pay it. and suddenly put my property ir
| snch shape that yon could not collect you,
Mote? How would you like that? That
IN you say, would be fraud s., is the
other fraud, and punish it God will
a scertainly as you live and just as certainly
if you do not live. ] have known men be
| trothed to loving and good womanhood re-
signing their engagement and the victim
went down in hasty copsumption, while sud
denly the recreant man would go up the
aisle of church in brilliant bridal party
and the two promised Il will'' with So
lemnity that seemed insurance of lifetime
happiness. But the simple fact was, that
was the first of Shsksperian play, entitled
ssTaming the Shrew." He fonDd out when
too late that he had not married into the
family of the "Graces," bnt into the family
of the "Furies." To the day of his death
the murder of his first betrothal followed
him.
The Bible extols one who sssweareth to
bis own hurt and chapReth not" That ia,
when you make promise keep it at all
hazards. There may be cases where decep-
ton has been used at the time of engage
meDt and extraordinary circumstances
where the promise is not binding, but in
nine bundled and ninety nine Cases out of
a thousand engagement is as binding as
marriage. Robert Burns, with all his faults,
we'll knew the fnroe OF a marital engage
ment. In obedience to some rustic idea
be, standing on one side the brook AVE-,
and Mary Campbell on the other they
bathed their hands in the water and then
put them on the boards of Bible, making
their pledge of fidelity. On the cover of the
o TESTAMENT of that book to this day in
Robert Burns's hand writing may be found
the words: "Leviticus xix. l2: Ye shall not
swear by my name falsely; am the Lord. +"
Aud on the cover of New Testament IN
bis own handwriting: Matthew " 80:
''Thou shalt not forswear thyself. but shalt
perform unto the Lord thine oaths."
Suppose a ship captain offers his services
to take ship out to sea. After he gets, a
little way he comes alongside of a vessel
with a more beautiful flag. and which has
perhaps a richer cargo and is buund for
a more attractive port. Sud
pose he rings a bell for the engineer to i
the captain being lowered over the side oi
the vessel into small boat, and be crosses
to the gayer aud wealthier craft, and climbs
up the sides, aud is seen walking the bridge
of the other ship. pick up his resigned
speaking trumpet and l shout through it
Captain, what does this mean? DID you
not promise to take this ship to Southamp
ton, Eogland?'; "Yes," says the captain
''bdt have changed my mind, and have
found that eau do better, and am going
to take charge here. shall send back te
you all the letters got while managing
that ship and everything got from your
ship, and it will be all right" You tel
me that the worst fate for such captain as
that is too good for him. But it is jus,
what a man or woman does who promises
| 20 take one through tho voyage of life
across the ocean of earthly existence, anG
then breaks the promise. The sendus
hack of all the letters and rings aud neck
laces aud keepsakes Cannot make that righ
which is in the sight of God, and ought tt
be in the sight of man, au eve
lasting wrong. What American socie. 1
ty ueets TO ba taught is that betroh hal il
an act 30 solemn and tremendous that al
men and women must stand back from i
until tLey are sure that it is right, and sur,
that it is best, and sure that DO retreat vii
be desired. Before that promise of life
time companionsbIp any amount of rom anc
that YOU wish, any ardor of frieudship, an,
coming and going. But espousal is gate
a golden gate, which one should not pas
unless he or she expects never to return
Engagement is the porch of which MARI
aye is the castle, and you have no rigut iu
the porch if you do not mean to pass int
the castle.
| The trouble has always been that thi
whole subject of Alliance has been relegatsC
to the realm of frivolity and joke. and con
sidered not worth a sermon or even,a seriou,
paragraph Aud SO the massacre of bumar
lives has gone on and the devil has had il
his own cruel way, and what is nightly
needed is that pulpit, and platform. snc
printing press all speak word OF
unmistakabe and thunderous prnn
test on this subject Of infinite import "
ance. We put clear out into thin pOesy aDo
| light reading the marital engagements Of
| Petrarch aud his Laura, Dante aud his
Beatrice, CHANGER aud bis Philippa, Lorenz-
de Medci and his Lucretia, Spencer and
his Rusalipd, Waller and Saccharissa, mol
realiziug that 1T was the sty le of their en-
g.gsment that declded their happiness ol
| wretchedness, their virtue or their profit
gacy. All the literary and mi itary aud re
lig,ous glory nf Queen Elizabeth's reign
cannot blot out from one of the most c"n.
spicuous pages of history her inf ,mous be
bavinr towards Seymour and Philip aud
Melville and Leicester and others. Al
the eecesastical robes that Dean Swift
ever rustled through consec' ated PAGES
caunot hide from Intelligent people of al
ages the fact that by proM
ises of marriage which he never fulf'l-Ix1
ed he broke the heart of Jane Waring at Ell
an engagement of seven years, aud the
heact of Stella after an engagement OF
fourteen years, and the poe,ic stanzas he
dedicated to their excellences only make
the more immortal bis own perfidy
"But suppose should make mistake" T"
saws some mau or woman, land find it
out after the engagement and before mar
rage?" My answer is. you have no excuse
for making mistake on this subject
There are 40 many ways of finding out all
about the character and preference and dis
likes and habits of man or woman that
if you have not brain enough to form a
right Judgment in regard to hun or her, yOu
are not 80 fit candidate for the matrImo-
nial altar as you are for an idiot asylum.
Notice what society your especial friend
prefers, whether he is industr1
Gus, or lazy, whether she is neat or slat i
ternly, what books are read, what was the
otulo of oncostru DOhle or dppra ved opd IA