Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1893-01-01

unsatisded desire is the spring of exer-
ton, and We all know that the man
who can lie al day under his banana
trees and eat their luscious fruit with
our even the labor OF plucking 1t Will
not be likely 10 toll all day in the sun 10
raise . crop of corn.
Similarly man who does not wish TO
marry and is deaf 10 the voice of the
charmer, who is perfectly satisfied with
his home in a boarding house and the
family covered by his own hat, will not
labor and plan aud push for money and
place as VIII he who ardently desires To
take 10 himself a wife, to provide for
that wife fitting home, and to see that
home filed with his own children.
OF course the exertion he makes for
his own selfish end rebounds to the ben
eft of the world at large. His work
provides work for other people, and the
results of his labor enrich society in one
way or another. Nature has planted
deep in the constitution of either sex an
impulse toward the other. Around this
impulse. which nature simply bestows
ton, we have thrown a great deal of ro-
mantle drapery and pretty sentiment;
have buried IL in thickets of roses and
lilies; have drowned its voice in songs
of nightingales and tinkle of lutes and
mandolins; have called upon the stars
10 witness TO its loftiness and the moon
to admire its purity-in fact, we have
deifed ourselves and our natural desires
into some sort of impossible creation
quite unfit for this mundane sphere,
while all the time good old matter of
fact Mother Nature smiles and says:
.'Go on, my dears; be as romantic and
ridiculous as you please. only in the end
marry, have children and keep the world
going just as il always has gone"
Prosaic individuals there are in the
world. principally among those so
swathed around with the good things
of this earth that they have very little
freedom of individual action, that they
recognize this simple law of nature and
follow it without self deception or senti-
mental pretense. Kings, queens and
their families; mobiles concerned in the
transmission of their titles; very wealthy
persons who have the ambition of found
ing family and perpetuating a name
all these marry just as nature intended
for the sake of the children likely tC
come of such marriage, and they choose
their partners with the deliberate con
sideration of their fitness for the posi-
tion they have TO offer.
Once in awhile some poor little prin
| cess rebels and claims her privilege Of
flowers and birds and stars and moor
and all the other pretty adornments o.
courtship. and once in awhile some sell
willed young duke or prince asserts hi
self will By marrying quite the wrons
person for his duchess or princess, bu
ON the whole these highborn unfortu
mates are pretty submissive 10 their he
reditary destiny and follow out their ap
pointed law with stohd submissiveness
In this country few citizens feel them
/ selves under these hereditary obliga
/ tons, and rs a general thing an Amer
/ lean Of either sex marries from pnre in
clination, and not with any special obi
/ CATION toposterity. From this independ
ent social condition arises far NOR
( freedom Of choice than Is dreamed of b.
onr unfortunate titled brethren acros
the seas. and not only freedom Of choic
I among various candidates. but freedom
/ Of choice between the two states of mat
! rimouy and celibacy.
Nobody here in america need MARI.
4 Il he doesn't want 20. and consequent
I most marriages are those Of inclination
| Now the question Is, Are these mar
rieges likely to be happier than thos
/ contracted from motives OF policy
some persons will add, Is any mar
riage likely 70 be happier than no mar
l.riages
| Ills common saying that marrisg
Is n lottery. aud. like most other trit
sayings. 1t Is so true that it has bee
worn % rags by the constant usage O
those who found the coat ga we'll fitte
e. their own backs that they couId no
resist pattng It ON.
Marriage is = lottery. and when v
ask Is SC better Ia marry or to RENAL
single e. as IL we asked, Il 1t better
give ALI that We possess for a ticks
which DsY entitie "a 20 n splendl
fortune. and which may turn up-blana
Every one knows in buying the lotter
ticket that tho most likely chance is q
rhe blank. bat yet Soc possibility of th
fortune rs So alluring that lotteries driy
= thriving business all over the wori
and many "a man who cannot buy a coa
/ vii MENACE ~ pay for at least the fra
tiou ef a ticket
just Sc WITH marriage. One cannf
take np = newspaper without reading
divorces of wife murders. Of domesti
treachery and Wild revenge, q All sort
IF misery suj sin add shame that IN on
? way or aaother have resulted from ma
naee Without going n the pabli
prints one leozs through The list ~ The
own accnainfance. and for ono hspp
. naarr' age does ret che find two that COZ
fncs more e. che misery than the biiss
ere cr TIRE ether 81 the parties And y
tha lottery TICKETS sell great deal bett
taia 8lh.es. and yat the churches, q
Caeas - Justices or registrars
s faca where Peofle may Sc married.
6 marry tlser1se lves--are thror gel With il
raueas sppi1csnfs fer The means q -
sestrucu1n. and e you capture any 81
: cf teese seif Devoted eorales ard PM
ous - fGem tEe fSta If two asr,fs