The record-union., 1897-07-26
BESELENA'S PRATTLE.

We VINO I'VE IN InIS age ana generation
are apt to plume ourselves on the fact
that we have reached the verv acme of
civilization in every branch of art and
science; that we have made rapid and
wonderful Improvements in these
| branches can not be denied, but at the
same time we have not reached perfec-
ton. The master minds of this and
other countries are dispelling the shad-
ows, slowly to be sure, but nevertheless
surely, yet in spite of this fact we have
not entered into the broad light of day.
1t is an astonishing fact with what
tenacity people will cling to oldtime Gus
| toms and institutions. True, the GUS
toms or institutions, may have pro-
| greSsed with the age in which we live
until people delude themselves into the
| belief that it can reach no higher state.
AS l write l have in mind one particular
custom, and that is the so-called fashion
able funeral To my mind one of these
fashionable funerals is nothing more nor
less than the hight of refined barbarism,
and should be speedily abolished. Penn
| sylvania has, 1 believe, passed a law
abolishing them; it would be a good
thing We're other States to follow their
| example.
That there are some friends of the be-
reaved family who are genuinely sorry
for the mourners cannot be denied, yet,
| at the same time, there are others who
| simply enter the abode of death drawn
there by a morbid curiosity. Not very
| long ago l had a lady ask me in all earn
estness, how the widow of a certain
mutual friend of ours took her husbands
death! Such questions are as senseless
as they are silly. woman who truly
loves her husband can only take her be-
reavement in one way, and even if she
did not love her husband there is some
thing about the sacredness and solemn
| ity of death which ought to command
respect at least.
| It's not a pleasant nor a charitable
thing to gloat over the sorrow or suffer-
ing of any human being, yet there are
hundreds of women who seem to thrive
on just this sort of thing. They attend
every funeral for miles around, drink in
with greedy ears the sobs of the mourn
ers, find fault with the Grape and even
go so far as to criticise the casket and
it's silent sleeper. These are the women
who hang around the morgue doors wait
| 1ilSs IOI SOII1ClIIIIlS liOI IlDIt " Idpp6ns
grief to them is not sacred, It neither ap-
peals to their hearts nor sympathies; it
is simply the means of satisfying their
morbid qualification.
Another objection against these fash
ionable funerals lies in the fact that in
many instances the people are not able
financially to pay for this sort of thing
and in many cases it often impoverishes
them. Just as much respect can be paid
the dead and just as much genuine grief
be shown in an unostentatious funeral
than if it were a mile long.
The summer season seems to afford
the married woman who receives and en-
courages attention from men other than
her husband, the much needed oppor-
tunity. AS usual her husband is at
home, her children are in the country
and she is free to do as she sweetly
| pieases. A lady friend of mine, who has
recently returned from the East, told
me the following incident which will
aptly illustrate by meaning: On the
same Pullman with my friend was a
strikingly handsome woman travelling
with her maid, a discreet looking French
woman. When the journey was about
|
handsome man who kissed madame af-
fectionately and devoted himself to her
with every lover-like attention. Every
one took it for granted that they were
man and wife until the last day when it
leaked out that the handsome man was
nothing more to madame than a very
| good friend" When the train pulled
up at the station both madame. the
handsome man and the French maid
! took a carriage and disappeared. No
doubt that woman's husband had every
| confidence in her: yet were he to know
the truth. after the first burst of indig-
nation, and a few pathetic sobs and re-
! pentant promises from madame I have
no doubt that he would be ready to for
! get and forgive an offense of this kind
! The man who will take back to his heart
and home the woman who has once dis
graced his name lacks both honor and
principle. ] am strongly in favor of a
few striking examples being made
Money usually cuts the greatest figure in
an affair of this kind. If the injured
husband has plenty of hard cold cash
back of him he is coaxed and impiored
| to exercise the divine right of forgive
ness. and if the woman in the case is
pretty and well coached before hand as
| to what she must say and do when they
meet she usually has things all her own
way. In every case the man who runs
away with a woman who is weak enough
! to go with him, has absolutely no respect
| for her and will ultimately desert her
when prettier, fresher face strikes his
| tickle fancy. The woman thus deserted
gets no more nor less than she deserves.
men go about it deliberately and with
| their eyes wide open, and while the ex-
| citement and glamour lasts they brazen-
! ly defy all laws of society and morality
| but let adverse circumstances arise and
! they quickly come to their senses and
| think regretfully of the man they de-
serted. A few sham tears and violent
convince the deserted one that the er-
ring one is genuinely repentant. A meet
| ing is effected and when the man sees
her his firm resolve of never having any
| thing to do with her again melts into
empty air and he opens his manly arms
so that the repentant 90 sinner can
weep out her grief upon his shirt front;
gets trip to Europe. This is what I
call no more nor less than placing a
premium on sin and immortality
BESELENA.
Portland. Or, July %. 1897.
What matters any woman'S age.
for l. r I.