West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1888-02-02

through IL: Captain, what does this mean ,
Did you not promise ~ take this shin to
southampton, England ~ "Yesn says the
captain, but have changed my mind and I
nave found can do better. and I am going
70 take charge here. shall send back to you
all the letters got while managing that shin
and everything got from your ship and Il
VIII VIII DC all right" You tell me that the worst
tate for such captain as that Is too good for
Nun But 10 Is just what man or woman
docs who promises to take one through the
voyage OF life, across the ocean OF earthly
enls , ana then breaks the promise The
sending back OF all the letters and rings
ana necklaces and kccpsakcs cannot make
that right which is I'm the sight OF
Zoo, ana ought To be I'm the sight of man.
an everlasting wrong What American
society needs 10 be taught Is that betbrotbol
Is an act so solemn and tremendous that ali
men and women must stand back from it
until they arc sure that IL Is right, and
sure that IL is best, and sure that
no retreat VIII DO 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, a golden gate. which
one should not pass. unless he or she expects
never 20 return Engagement Is the porch
oil which marriage is the castle. and you have
no right IN the porch If you do not mean TO
pass into the castle
Inc trouble has always been that this
4
TO the realms of frivolity aud joke. and con-
sidered not worth n sermon or even n serious
paragraph. And so tho massacre of human
lives mas gone on AMI the devil has had IL hts
own cruel way, and what Is nightly needed
Is th01 pulpit AMI platform and printing
press all speak n word OF unmistakabIe and
thunderous protest on this subject of in
Unite Importance. We put clear ont into thin
poeSy ana night reading tho marital engage
inents OF Petrarch and his Laura Dante and
his Beatrice, Chaucer and his Phiippa.
Lorenzo do Medici and his I.ucretia. Spanser
and his Rosalind, Waller and his Sacchar-
iSsa, not realizing that IL was tho stvis of
their engagement that decided their bappi
ness or wretchedness. their virtue or their
prohigncy: All tho literary and military
and religious glory of Queen Elizabethss
reign cannot blot out from one OF the
most conspicuous pages of history her in
famous behavior toward Seymour md
Philip and Melville and Leicester and
others All the ecclesiastical robes that Dean
Swlft over rnstled through consecratod
places cannot hide from intelligent u onle OF
all ages the fact. that by promises of mar
riage which he never fulfilled. he broke the
heart OF Jane Waring after an ongayement
OF seven years, and the heart OF Stella after
an engagement of fourteen years and the
poetic stanZas he dedicated 10 their EXCEL.
rerfidy. ''' va
But suppose should make mistake
says some man or woman, "ani find n ont
ragef MY answer is, you have no excuse
Tor making mistake ON this subject There
are many ways OF finding out all about the
character and preferences and dislikes and
haoits OF man or woman, that il you have
not brain enough to form right Judgment
IN regard to him or her, YOU are not 3, lit n
candidate for the matrimonial altar as YOU
~. IT,, .or an laiot asylum Notice what society
yonr especial friend prefers, whether he Is
industrious or lazy, whether she is neat or
ss,atterniy, what hooks are read, what was
the style OF ancestry, noble or depraved, and
, !. mere De any unsoiyed mystery about the
person under consideration postpone all
promise until the mystery Is solved
Jackson's Hollow, Brooklyn, was n part of
the city not built on for many wears and
every time crossed it | said to myself or TO
others, why Is not this land built on, /
found out afterward that the title to the
lana was In controversy aud no one wanted
To build there until That question was de-
cidSd Afterward understood the title was
settled, and now buildings are going I'D all
over It. DO not build your happiness for this
world on character. masculine or feminiue.
that has not settled and undisputed title TO
honor and truth and sobriety and kindness
Oh, woman, You have moro need to pause
netore making such an important promise
than man, because il you make a mistake IL
Is worse for you If man biunder about
promise OF marriage, or go on TO an unfortu-
nate marriage, he can spend his evenings
away, and can go to the club or the Republi-
can or Democratic Headquarters. aud absorb
his mind In city or State or national elections,
or smoke himself stupid, or drink himself
drunk: But there is no place OF regular re-
treat Tor You, oh woman and you could not
take narcotics or intoxicants and keep your
respectability. Before you promise, pray
and think and study AMI advise. There will
never again in your earthly history be n
Tune when you so much need God.
lt seems to me that tho world ought to
cast ont from business credits and from good
neghborhoots those who boast of the number
or hearts they have won as the Indian
boasts of the number of scalps he has taken.
III man will lie To a woman and woman
VIII lie TO man about so important n mat
ter as that of n lifetime's welfare, they will
lie about bill of goods and lie about finances
ana lie about anything Society to-day is
brlmful of gallants. and man milliners and
carpet knights, and co1uettes and those most
Tod forsaken OF all wretches--hrts. And
they go about drawing rooms and the parIors
OF watering places smpering and bowinr.
anu scraping and whispering, and then re-
turn to tho club rooms if they be men. or 10
their special gatherings If Trey be women. 70
chatter and gigyle over what was said 10
them in confidence. Condign punisbmont is
alt 10 come upon them, aud they get paid in
their own coin. l could point YOU TO n score
whom society has let drop very hard i'm re
vurii Tor Iheir nase traffic in human hearts
AS TO such men, they walk around in their
celiOacy, after their hair is streaked with
gray, and pretending they are naturally
Shortsighted when their eyes are so cd in
sin t1at they need tho spectacles of n sep
tuaSenarian, an eyeglass about No y AMI
think they are bewitchng in their stride and
oVerpowering I'm their elances, although thew
are simply ughing stocks for all mankind
AMI " these base dealers i'm human hearts be
iem1ies they are left after while severely
acne striving in very desperation ard
agony OF cosmetics 70 get back TO the NJ
tractiyeness they had when they used 10 brao
now many masculine affections they had
slaughtered. Forsaken of God and honest
men and good women are sure 70 he all such
masculine and female trificrs with human
ana yet immortal affections. Oh man. on
woman, having plighted your troth, stick
And here my idea widens, aud have TO
cay not only TO those who have made a mis-
take in solemn promise Of marriage but 10
those who have already at the altar been pro-
n0unced one when they are two, or i'm diver
Sly OF tastes and likes and dislikes arc
neither one nor two but q dozen-make tile
best you can OF an awful mistake And hero
let mo answer letters that come from every
state OF the American Union and from
across the sea, and are coming year aft r
year from men AMI women who are terrific.
ally ailianced and tied together in n hard
Knot. a very hard knot The letters run
something Ike this: "What ought / 10 do
my husband is a drunkardn "My wife Il n
sad-about and will not stay az home
81 y companion is ignorant aud hatcs,books