Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-01-23

INV In whatever re-
GW lates to marriage
MLN|MW we Americans are
.cNM%EAS the most sentl-
E7lTZ-W)X mental. romantic
/N~I. n aud reckless pop
SsNAyzIV II pie under the sun.
SIk ~ We do not mean
| II that there is too
much marrying in this country, f9r
there is by no means enough marrying
of the right sort, but too much OF the
inconsideratc, immature and premature
sort
Europeans consider marriage soberly,
seriously, rather in the light OF social
and commercial compact looking to
practical amelioration and the contlnu-
ance of the family.
To Americans, says q writer in the
Minneapolis Times, there is something
unpleasant in the bnsiness.like way IN
which the English approach matrinlony,
aud the ultra utilitarian spirit they
bring to bear on it from first to last.
In this country we do not believe in
taking a wife as we would buy horse,
or purchase land, or invest in stocks,
viewing her substantial qualities aad
the amount Of value received.
If Europeans 60 to the one extreme,
we Americans go the other. If they
are too cold and calculating, we are too
warm and inconsiderate. Ii they make
it too much matter of business, We
make it too much matter of fancy and
feeling. That love and sympathy
should be the base: and that it is, in
Iced, the sole safe and permanent base
of marriage is scarcely less than q
truism. Though the principle may be
necessarily violated, its verify is usually
accepted even by those who violate it.
In this country we believe it practi-
cally, and were our insight and self
understanding equal to our belief, we
should boast of fewer inharmonious and
unhappy couples than any other land
Unfortunately we are apt to forget that
something more than what we conceive
to be love is essential to matrimony,
and we have, besides, an extraordinary
facility for discovering love by mere
surface indications.
Our young people are hardly out of
school before, having been thrown into
each others society, they imagine that
all their future happiness hangs on their
speedy union. AS ignorant of them
selves as they are of humanity in gen
eral, they confound the common in
stincts of nature with uncomfortable
and unchangeabe affinities. They fout
all advice to proceed with caution they
are not going to wait until all freshness
OF feeling has gone and their hearts are
withered, etc. STEPPED in the selfish
ness of oyerfowing egotism, Judgment
consumed in the flame Of tumultuous
emotion, they are incapable of suspect
ing that they are simply another pre-
cious pair of natures dupes. They
solemnly believe their erotic experience
is peculiar, that they feel as men and
women never felt before. and will never
feel again. They are not to be blamed /;
they are merely human; most Of us
have antedated their folly, though we
may have escaped the final pitfall of q
hasty marriage.
1t is pitiable fact that more than
half the persons who believe they love
one another intensely, and marry under
such belief live long enough to find
themselves mistaken. But many
American parents deem it quite sutfi-
Gent for their children to avow, in their
salad days, q reciprocal passion, to take
them at their word, and hurry them
into wedlock. We are practical peo-
pie, yet the name of love has a con]ur-
ing power with us. Before that mono
syllable common-sense seems to vanish.
We forget that, while love may be
ample for itself, it is not ample for mar
liage--a state in which prosaic facts.
stern realities, manifold annoyances, in
evitably enter, and play a most con-
spicuous part.
"Do they love one another?" That
is the supreme and only test.
If they do, send for the clergyman
and bind them fast" Have they good
health? Are they fitted to be parents?
Can they sustain each other? Have
they anything to live on? Have they
any earning capacity? Are they quail
fed to construct home that will bene-
tit society or strengthen the state?
These are old-fashioned questions, in
delicate and Impairment They are
fond of one another; their fondness
will be their surety.
Would it might be! But, alas, what
daily instances our divorce courts, and,
indeed, our own observations, furnish
that is not! We are too sentimental
and romantic over what, if it ever goes
wrong, sentiment will not aid, and ro-
nance cannot cure. If the American
people were little more careful about
marriages beforehand we should have
less causes to repent them afterwcrd-
we should have less mismated misery.
fewer blighted lives, ruined homes, and
public scandals Boston Herald.
Are the Oceans Disappearing.
At recent meeting of the French
theological society communication
from NJ. Transchold, of Moscow, was
read on the aNnn. Inra h;l;tu ae ~