Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-02-10
that seemed insurance OF a lifetime hapni-

.1led' tanning the Shrew." He fonnd ont
WI Mnen 100 late that he had not married into
me family of the "Gracesn but INTO the
!amily OF the "Euries." To the day Of His
lowed him. '0''''n"' ioA-
The Bible extols one who asweareth to
us own nurt and changeth not" That is.
h mnen you make 1i promise keep it at ali
hazards. There may be cases where de-.
ceptlon has been used Mt the time Of an.
gagement, and extraordinary circumstances
whore 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 engage.
ment. In obedience to some rustic idea he.
standing on one side the brook AYR, and
Mary Campbell on the other, they bathed
thelr hands in the water and then put them
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, 10: Ye
snall not swear by my name falsely; am
the Lord" And on the cover of the New
Testament, in his own handwriting:
Matthew, Y, SO: Thou shalt not forswear
myself, but shalt perform unto the Lord
thine oaths."
Suppose ship Captain offers his services
to take ship out to sea. After he gets
little way he comes alongside of o vessel
with more beautiful flag, and which has
perhaps richer cargo and is bound for
more attractive port. Suppose he rings a
wheel stops. Now 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. I pick up his resigned speaking
trumpet and shout through it: "Captain,
what does this mean? Did you not promise
to.take this ship to Southampton, England?"
eyes," says the Captain, "but 1 have
changed my mind and have found can
do better, and am going to take charge
here. shall send back to you all the let
ters got while managing that ship and
and everything I got from your ship, and
it will be all right" You tell me that the
worst fate for such Captain as that is too
good for him. But it is just what q man
or woman does who promises to take one
through the voyage of life, across the ocean
of earthly existence, and then brakes the
promise. The sending back of all the
letters and rings and necklaces and keep
sakes cannot make that right which is in
the sight of God, aud ought to be in the
American society needs to be taught is that
betrothnl is an act SO solemn and tremen-
dous 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 gate, golden gate, which
one should not pass, unless he or she ex-
poets never to return. Engagement is the
porch of which marriage is the castle, and
you have no right to 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 rele-
gated to the realms of frivolity and Joke,
and considered not worth 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 a
word of unmistakable and thunderous pro-
test on this subject of infinite Importance.
We put clear out into thin poesy and
Petrarch and his Laura, Dante and his
Beatrice, Chaucer and his Lucretia, Spen-
ser and his Rosalind, Waller and his Sac
charissa, not realizing that it was the style
of their engagement that decided their hap
piness or wretchedness, their virtue or
their profigacy. All the literary and mill
tary and religious glory of Queen Eliza
beths reign cannot blot out from one of
the most conspicuous pages of history her
infamous behavior toward Seymour and
Philip and Melville and Leicester and
others. All the ecclesiastical robes that
Dean Swift ever RUSHED through conse-
Grated places cannot hide from intelligent
people of all ages the fact that, by prom
ises of marriage which he never fulfilled,
he broke the heart of Jane Waring 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 excellences only make
the more immortal his own perfidy.
"But suppose should make mistake, "
says some man or woman. "and find it
out after the engagement and before the
marriage?" My answer is, you have no ex-
cuse on this subject. There are SO many
ways of finding out all about the charac-
ter and preferences and dislikes and hab-
its of man or woman, that if you have
not brain enough to form right judg
ment i'll regard to him Or her, you are not
SO fit a candidate for the matrimonial altar
rs you are for an idiot asylum. Notice
what society your especial friend prefers,
| whether he is industrious or lazy, Whetner
she is neat or slntternly, what books are
read what was the style of ancestry, noble
or depraved, and if there be any unsolved
mystery about the person under consider
alton postpone all promises until the mys-
terry is solved.
Jaclxson's Hollow, Brooklyn, was a part
of the city not built on for many years,
and every time I crossed it l 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 decided. Aftesward l understood the
! title was settled, and now buildings are
going up all over it. DO not build your
happiness for this world on character,
masculine or feminine, that has not set
! tied and undisputed tltleto honor and truth,
and sobriety and Kindness and righteous
| ness.
Oh, woman, you have more need to
pause before making such an important
promise than man, because if you make a
mistake it is worse for you. Ii man
blunder about promise of marriage, or go
on to an unfortunate marriage, he can
spend his evenings away, and can go to the
club, or Republican or Democratic head
| ,ort,re on1 absorb his mind in CITY or