The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1890-08-06
MERCENARY MARRIAGES.
Maude Rowe DiseOurses on Their
Folly and Misery.

Folly and Misery.
To marry for money is one of
the most objectionable of all blun-
ders. Til. search for truth and
the pursuit OF happiness are in the
Judgment of most wise men, from
Moses TO Socrates, from LORD Baa
con to Emerson, the two most jn>
tellieent aims in life. To seek tor
truth in a marriage which in itsef
il a mockery and lie is evidently
useful; to pursue happiness in a
home which one has sold ones
freedom to obtain is quite fruit
less task. 1t is stupid, it is ignors
ant, it is wicked to marry tor
money.
1t is stupid from SO many points
of view, it = stalking the perma~
nent against the evaDescent.
Money is an uncertain commOdity,
a fuctuating value, and a man or
woman who exchanges his or her
best chances of happiness for that
fiimsy, slippery coin, is exehang-
ing the true for the false, the real
for the counterfeit. This is all
ways 2resupposing that happy
marriage is the highest prize which
the life lottery contains If there
he any cynic who doubts this
Why. this argument is not for him.
The mistake with us is the great
importance which is attached By
classes in this country to the mon
ey question. Ii is a very unpleas-
ant thing to be hungry, but it is
also uncon Portable to be gorgel
and over-fed. Under-pourish
ment is bad, but apoplexy and
govt are perhaps worse.
To preach the doctrine of plain
living and high thinking is at this
date a ihankless task-it probably
has always been. 1t is not a very
dreadful thing to be poor. Want
is grim, but it is not the ugliest
thing | know in this wOrll. When
| shall speak OF the poor in thi'
short sermon | must he understood
not to speak OF the poverty strick'
en- men and women Of our great
cities. whose misery is our shame.
hut of the men and women who
lack the luxuries of life, and mnsi
suffice themselves with its necessi
ties.
10 go back little. The ca use
OF mercenary marriages is nearly
always ignorance, false standard
of the values of lite. In order
that we should guard our children
from this saddest of mistakes, We
must beware what false doctrines
they listen to in their nurseries and
at our tables. The false standards OF
life are, alhsl too often acquir d
by our boys and girls while they
are still rclhng hoops aud playing
marbl, :.
We sometimes hear OF cases OF
mercenury marriages which the
friends Of the victim applaud as
acts Of heroic selt>saerihce. A
mir young girl, in orler to saws
ner father from bankruptcy or her
family from poverty, gives ler
hand to some rich man, to whom
she cannot give her beart. SO,
ciety plies her and apPiaads her
a"d a certain pc. ton Of it keeps
il sharp lookout for the time when,
lie hand being already given, the
heart is q en- to another, Oh,
what pitiful bankruptcy is this,
worse. thousand times worse,
than the darkest financial disaster
which can o\ ertake the family.
Or suppose the heart is never
iven. The woman hes the cour,
age to play her part IN this mock
marriage through to the bitter end;
gives up the hope Of loving, or
sirangles it in birth, and lives at
the side OF her husband an honOra-
bic wife, the throne in her heart
always empty, the hunger never
satisfied; what then? Is there
any happiness Tor husband, wife or
child in that household, think you
None, for the children OF these
loveless marriages are born without
love to their dover, AID without
the inheritance OF love what is life
worth? This is no roruance. ASK
the man whose opinion on those
matters you believe in.-youl
clergyman, who knows lite at 1t.
best your lawyer, who sees it al
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