Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-03-18

Cicuce repeatedly showed us dDpttcld-
tion of the sentiments expressed by the
reverend speaker, and his sturdy
blows in behalf OF the protection Of the
household and against the dissolute-
ness of modern society were received
with marked appreciation. The text
selected was Matt. xix. o, What there
fore God hath joined together let nc
man put asundcr.
That there are hundreds and thou
sands Of infelcit0us homes i'm Amer
lea no one viii doubt. III there were
only one skeleton in the closet that
might be locked mp and abandoned;
but In many "a home there is skele-
ton in the hallway and skeleton IN
all the apartments
"UnhapDily married are two words
descriptive of many Il homestead. III
needs no orthodox minister 90 prove 70
a badly-matej pair that there is q helir
they are there now. Sometimes
grand and gracious woman VIII De
thus incarcerated, and her life will be
q crucifxion. as was Jhe case with Mrs.
SigOurney. the great pOetesa and the
great soul. Sometimes a cOnsecrated
man viii be united in a fury, as was
John Wesley. or united 90 "a vixen. as
was John Milton. Sometimes. and gen
orally. both parties are 20 blame, and
Thomas Carlyle was
AN INTOLERABLE SCOLD,
and his wife smoked and sWore, and
Floude. the historian. pulled aside The
curtain from the lifelong sQUabble or
Craicenputtock and Five. Cheyne Row.
Some say that for the alienation of
an these domestic disorders of which
we hear, easy divorce is a good pre-
scription. God sometimes authorizes
divorce as certainly as He authorizes
marriage. I have just as much regard
for one lawfully divorced as / have FOR
one lawfully married. But YOU know
and / know that wholesale divorce IS
one Of our national scourges. ] am not
surprised at this when / think of the
influences which have been abroad
initiating against the marriage rela-
ton
Tor many years the platforms OF the
country rang with talk about free
love millennium There were meet
ings of this kind held in the Cooper
Institute. New York, fremont Temple.
Boston. and all over the land. Some
of the women who were most prom
inent in that movement have since
been distinguished for great prOmiscu~
osity of affection. Popular themes for
such occasions were the tyranny OF
man, the oppression OF the marriage
yelatiOn, woman S rights and the Atm
tiles. Prominent speakers We're women
with short curls and short dress and
very long tongue. everlastingly at war
with God because they were created
women: while ON the platform sat
meek men with soft accent and cowed
dcmeanOr. apologize for Insecurity,
and holding the parasOls while the
termagant orators went on preaching
the
DOCTRINE or FREE LOVE.
That campaign of about twenty years
set more devils into the marriage re.a-
ton than viii be exercised i'm the next
fifty. Men and women went home
from such meetings so permanently
confused as 10 who were their wives
and husbands that they never got out
of their perplexity. and the criminal
and the civil courts tried to disentan-
gle the Had of woes. and this one got
alimOny. and that one got limited
divorce. and this mother kept the chill
dren on condition that the father could
sometimes come and look at them. and
these went into poor houses. and those
went into an insane asylum, and those
went into dissOluJe public life. anu all
went 10 destruction. The misnJleSt
war ever made against the marriage
institution was that free-lOve cam
paign. sometimes under one name and
sometimes under another.
Another influence that has warred
upon the marriage relation has been
polygamy i'm Utah. That was ster-
eotvped caricaturc of the marriage re-
lation. and has poisoned the whole
land You might as well think that
Won have an arm i'm a state of mortln-
cation and set the whole body not be
sickened. as 10 have those territories
polygamized. and yet the body OF the
nation not feel the puJrefacuon. Hear
IL good men and women Of America,
that so long ago as 1862 a law was
PASSED by Congress- fOrbidding polEg-
amy i'm the territories and i'm all the
places where they had jurisdiction
Twenty-four years passed along and
five administrations before the first
brick was knocked from that fortress
OF hbertincism.
Every new President i'm his inaug-
ural tickled that monster with the
straw of condemnation, and every
Congress stulliled itself i'm proposing
some plan which would not work.
POLIGA3IY STOOD
more entrencbed. and more braZen.
and more puissant, and more brag-
eart. and more Internal. James Buch-
anon. a much abused man of his day,
did more for the eNtirpation of this
villainy than most of the subsequent
administrations. Mr.. buchanan sent
out an army. and although it was halt
ed in it's work. still he accomplished
more than some of the administrations
which did nothing but talk, talk, talk.
AT last but until it had poisoned gen
erations pOlygamy has received ITS
death-blOw.
Polygamy i'm Utah warred against
the marriage relation throughout the
land Ii was impossible TO have such
an awful sewer of iniQuity sending up
its miasma. which was waited by the
winds north. south. east and west,
without the whole land belnS aUecteu
by il.
Another influence that has varied
against the marriage relation in this
country mas been . pUsJulOUs litera-
ture. with its millions of sheets every
week. choked with stories OF domestic
wrongs. and iuddelities, and massa-
Cres. and outrageS, until it is wonder
10 me that there ere any deceucies, or
any cOmmOn-sense left on the subject