The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-14

/ have been reading, says waller BeSant
in the New York Journal paper on the
divorce question. Dear reader do not be
alarmed. l have no views on the subject;
This is only side light | observe IN all
these paeprs that great deal Is made OF
the Slavery" of the wife. II reference
is made TO the wife as housekeeper, she Is
called a slave" Now let us put the
facts before us. If the Wife is an heiress
she can afford to keep housekeeper. If
the husband is rich he can afford to pay
for a houseEeeper. But in the middle
class, to which most of us do really be-
long whatever our pretenses, the wife is
not an heiress; she has no dot at all; 1t
is considered a great deal IL her father
gives her on her marriage thousand
pounds. Futher, though her father may
be willing to allow his daughter to live at
home, he will not be able TO leave her
insurance Of say $4,000 and as much more
saved is a fair average fortune TO leave.
Practically, therefore, all mddle-class
girls recognize the necessity OF work Mar
riage offers them a kind of work that to
most girls is pleasing. and far more to
their choice than any of the ordinary
methods of making liveihod. ASK the
first girl you meet whether she would
rather marry and become the British ma
iron, the ''loaf-giver, the administrator
of her husbands fortune? or whether she
would rather become a postoffce clerk
Journalist a typewriter? You known per-
fectly well-you will talk so gliby about
the wife being a slaVe-What her answer
will. be Well, but If you like to speak Of
this necessity as slavery, you can; 1 do
not
only remember that the poor, prosaic
| husband is a slave as Well HE goeth
| forth to his slavery every morning-dull,
unfeeling creature-with am inane smile
| upon his lips. He has none of the finer
| feelings you see. To me, however, 1t
| seems ignorant, foolish and mischlevous to
col the British matron slave. But then
Nm a Phlistine. Why, 1 actually, slave
as 1 am, sit down every morning without
| any resentment of repining to my slavery
l am bound in letters and IN chains ada
I Ie-s.r nil
the baker and the grocer? I must work
and so besotted am l that / really work
as If enjoyed 1t.
Fair sister slave when / have finished
this job and got the money l will try to
weep with thee over our joint sorrows.
Let us, meanwhile, shake our chains
they are not unmusical, are they2 To
me they are like peal of harmonious
bells Yet my heart bleeds--or would If il
had time-for thy sufferings undeserNed
Poor slave! To order the dinner--what
degradation! The husband-he has 10 pity
he cannot understand; he went Off at 0
o'clock this mornings he will come home
at O'clock; he will work at his papers
from o clock till y O'Clock al night OH
he has no pity; he cannot understand. In
senate wretch
I have known a vast number of people
during a life that has not been tied down
to one place nor confined to one set. on
the marriage question am perfectly GER
tain from my own experience, that, in the
majority of cases, the marriage life Is
happy--as we call happiness AS for mar
ried people becoming one in mind, that
kind of union can only belong to the
''higher" kind of intellect, which is, in
deed. rare. And in those elevated levels
of the higher intellect unhappiness Is
sometimes caused by the impractical
yearning of one of the two for the impos-
sible-an ideal that cannot be reached.
The union of hearts, however Is very far
from uncommon; / mean that kind of
union in which there is mutual trust and
respect between man and wife, with n
graceful allowance for little foibles and
with a common affection not only for each
other, but for the children. This is the
kind Of union which really makes mar
riage happy; and one does not want the
higher" nature-which is too often a sell
fish and exacting nature, self-styled
'higher'-but is found among quite ord
mary folk. The union of hearts, however
superior person. whose intellect scars
above the common things of EARTH and
d. IL. Ill IL