The Baptist headlight. (Topeka, Kan.) 1893-1894, 1894-03-28
MARRIAGE ENGAGEMENT.
Decision Which VIII Encourage Breach or
Promise Suits.

Editorially reviewing recent case.
the San Francisco Argonaut says:
A New YORK court has just decid-
ed what marriage engagement"
means X is a question often dis
cussed among young people. Such =
promise, being covenant, is often
supposed to rest on the same footing
as other coyenants-that is to say, it
is imagined that it involves specific
offer of marriage by the man and a
specific acceptance by the girl.
But that is not the doctrine laid
down by Chief-Justice Church in
the case of Homan versus Earle. He
said
Contracts of marriage are unlike ali
others. They concern the highest interests
of human life and enlist the tenderest sym
pathies of the human heart, and the acts
and declarations done and implied by parties
negotiating them are often correspondlngly
delicate and emotional. As matter OF law
the learned Judge was clearly right in hold
ing that no formal language is necessary TO
constitute the contract of marriage. Ii the
conduct and declarations of the parties
clearly indicate that theyIregard themselves
as engaged. it is not material by what means
thew nave arrived at that state.
The same principles have just been
affirmed by the general term Of the
Supreme Court of the fourth judicial
department of New York, in case
which was appealed from Chenango
County.
In this case young man met a
girl at prayer-meeting and was in
PRODUCED to her. They attended the
same church and the same prayer
meetings, and he usually escorted her
home. This went on for two or
three years, during which the girl
received no visits from other young
men. It does not appear that the
gentleman ever spoke of love or mar
rage; though he did tell the girl he
had never met young lady whom he
regarded more hi. lilly, that he longed
TO protect her, and, if he lived, he
would make her happy. Some con-
versation passed between them on
the subject of a house which the
man proposed to buy; he showed anx-
iety to choose house that would
please her. Still, he did not come to
the point, and, the lady's patience
being at last worn out, she sued him
for breach of promise, and the jury
found that his conduct did constitute
an implied promise of marriage. A
verdict of So. 900 damages was given
| to the lady, and this verdict has now
been affirmed by the general term.
The rule apparently does not work
both ways A girl is always free to
break off an engagement, however
formal it may have been; it is the
privilege Of the sex to change its
mind. With the more reason. girl
may break an engagement which has
been implied, but not expressed. As
a rule, it does not help girl to ac-
quire the reputation Of jilt But
some o. the most distinguished and
popular women of the day have had
episodes of the kind in their early
career.
Perhaps it might be worth the
while Of the advanced thinkers who
cIamor for the absolute equality or
the sexes to try to reconcile the in
congruity between their philosophy
and the claims OF women TO special
pre-nuptial consideration. 1t is per-
fectly obvious that a man who went
to law TO ask for damages from a girl
who had Tilted him would be laughed
out of court; yet girls sue for breach
OF promise, not only on the senti-
mental ground of broken heart, but
on the more practical contention
that their matrimonial market has
been spoiled. Ladies justify the dis
tinction by arguing that girl has
only brief season during which she
can make hay. while a man may
marry so long as he has breath in his
body.
In an address delivered before the
Young Mems Christian Association
at Clifton Forge, Va. NJ. T.. ingalls,.
Presi .ent of the Chesapeake and
Ohio Railroad, expressed great adj
miration for this organization be-
cause of the helpful and practical
work it is doing on the Chesapeake
ana Ohio road.
If woman should become. pastor
Of church, half the women mem