The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-09-12
MODERN MARRIED LIFE.

| happiness ana nOllueB5 10 enter tnlb
sacred relation,
But as our homes become either the
gateway to happiness or misery, persons
who contemplate entering this state
need to do so with wisdom from heaven,
for the Scriptures declare that a "good
wife is from the Lord" and will do her
companion good all the days of her life,
Where the opposite kind of compan-
ion comes from, of either sex, the good
book leaves US to infer.
Statistics show that married life Is
more conducive to health and length of
days than celibacy. ..-.
To properly bring up family of child.
rem is noble work. To watch the de-
velopment of mind and body in child
is to duplicate ones own existence and
happiness. Gas arrows are In the hand
of mighty man, 80 are the children of
the youth, they shall speak with the en-
emy in the gate;" also "Children's
children are the crown of old men and
the glory of children are their fathers. I"
/ Nothing more glorifies our country
and secures the perpetuity of our insti-
tutions than our generally pure and hap
py homes. AS the home is the "pri,
mordial cell' of the body polite, as it is
in fact the whole government 10
miniature and model, when the home
life is corrupted and broken down, it is
only question of time when the whole
social fabric will fall into rottenness and
decay. Men will not long defend with
their lives their "native land" unless
they have "hearts and homes" to pro-
tect as well.
But there are certain European ideas
concerning the marriage relation which
are creeping into our modern American
life against which we need to guard as
we would against fatal epidemic.
II is well known how loose are the
views concerning marital fidelity in some
portions of Europe. Before marriage
the girl or maiden is "chaperoned" with
ceaseless vigilance, but when married,
her so.called ''liberty" begins, and as the
well-known libertinism of the husband
prevents him from applying wholesome
reproof, the married life too often be-
comes hot-bed of social corrution
What kind of parental love and fidelity
can spring from such moral cesspool 7
Shall these foul and pernicious prac
tCes be permitted to come into our
American homes If these ideas Of Glib
erty" should ever prevail here we may
bid farewell to any permanent govern
ment "by the people and for the people" i"
Pure homes will insure good govern
ment, while unclean homes will in time
most certainly destroy the strongest gov
ernment on earth, as witness the history
of Greece and Rome after they attain
ed to wealth, luxury and prevailing un-
cleanness that hurried them into forms
of sensuality that should cause even
brutes to vomit with loathing and dis
gust.
Another sister to marital infidelity is
the growing evil of bachelorhood, es-
pecially among the well to-do classes in
our cities, The we'll known excuse is
that they cannot, as young men on lin
tied salaries, support wife of their own
"set" in the style and extravaganza to
which these young ladiesare accustomed
to in their fathers homes. In other
words, they are unwilling to begin a
few rounds lower on the social ladder
than that to which their parents have at
tanned by long years of toll and patience,
so they will delay marriage until the
happy time arrives when they can begin
where their parents leave off But what
are the temptations to dissolute habits
that follow this proud and dangerous
policy Let the secret history of modern
fashionable CLUB" life answer Even if,
at 80 or 40 years of age, the young man has
not formed habits which preclude all
hope of a successful financial or happy
marital life, he certainly is not prepared
to make as good and true husband and
parent as he would had he married ear
ier in life. If young woman is worth
the having she will be willing to begin
with the Husband of her youth" in
making their own way in the world as
most of her ancestors were compelled to
do before her. Even the elder Wander
bilt would not coddle bis children in the
beginning of their financial career, as he
we'll knew that they would squander
more than he could acquire If he should
His oldest son, who inherited the bulk
of his fortune, worked on farm on
Staten Island till forty years of age, and
then the care Of his fathers millions
was heavier burden to him than pow
erty itself.
This growing fashion of delaying mar
riage for an indefinite period is one OF
the most dangerous tendencies of the
present time. 1t is imposing yoke upon
young people that is next in danger to
the enforced celibacy of certain so-cal-
led religious orders,
At the same time, il any person is sure
that they can live purely and contented-
ly in single state let them by all means
do so. Enough of people will be COM
PEELED to get married, or becomes loose
in their morals, to keep up the popula-
tion of the earth, ..
We should have little to say against
celibacy in religious orders if all who
entered them were old enough to know
that they could live purely and usefully
in a single state with the added privil-
ege of renouncing such life whenever
they found iG personally unsafe and in
expedient to go on. The great evil
wrought by celibate orders is by the early
and perpetual vows made by many who
soon find that they have not gift nor
power for such a state, and they fall
into all manner of corruption as the nat
ural result.
Christ and Paul more than intimate
that single life is desirable state for
those who, as our Master has said, "aIe
able to bear it," especially if it is for the
"kingdom of heavens sake" But for
those who have not this special gift, to
attempt such life from so-called religi
GUS or fashionable motives is to do that
which will work evil and only evil.
While the "higher" classes of society
have their special perils there is a large
class in society where the young men,
on small incomes, have formed habits
of dissipation, and the young ladies have
also cultivated habits of expensive dres-
sing, and when such people enter the
marriage state it is little marvel that di-
yorcee soon follow.
Our churches are far from perfect,
but we can say justly in their praise
that the greater proportion of divorces
of the present day are outside Of their
pale.
Rumselling, drunkenness and debauch-
ery find no quarter inside our Protestant
churches, certainly where they come to
| the light.
But Just outside of this line the num-
ber of divorces is appalling. Dnubtlessin
some cases the laws are lax or carelessly
enforced, but the distressing fact re-
mains that in the great majority of
cases there is cause for divorce.
Young ladies might as we'll put their
arms through jug handle for support
as to lean upon many OF our young men,
and on the other hand the extravaganza
in living, in dress and house adornment
demanded by some young ladies is
enough to render any humble home
place OF constant discord.
With temperance and industrious
habits, and moderation in adornment
aud living there has never been an
age or portion of the globe where homes |