The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-09-29

pertinent But have a rigorous divorce
law, and that woman viii say, If /
am affiaaced to hat man, 1t La y life.
and IL now, In the ardor OF hi young
love and I the prize to be won y VIII
not give up his cups. when he won
the prize surely he win not Civ up his
cups" And so that woman " say to
the man: "No, SIX: you are -fready
married to the club, end you are mar
rfed to that evil habit, and 50 you are
married twice. and you are a bigamigt.
Co."
HASTY MARRIAGES.
A rigorous divorce law win also do
much TO hinder hasty and inconsid-
crate marriages. Un6er the impress
sion that one can be easily released
people enter the relation without in
quiry and tho reflection. Romance
and impulse rule the day. Perhaps the
only ground for the marriage compact
is that she likes his looks, and he ad-
mires the graceful way she passes
around the ice cream at the picnici 1t
is all they now about each other. It
is all the preparation for life. A man
not able to pay his own board bill,
with not a dollar in his possession,
viii stand at the altar and take the
loving hand and say. with all my
worldly goods 1 thee endow." A wo-
ihdu NhdI SoulO LO( nldhS q lO41 Oh
bread to save her life will swear to
love and keep him in sickness and in
health. A Christian will marry an
atheist, and that always makes con-
Joined wretchednesss, for If a nan does
not believe there is a God he is neither
to be trusted with a dollar nor with
your lifelong happiness. Having read
much about o in a cottage, people
brought up in cas- will go and starve
In a howell Runaway matches onG
opponents, nine hundred and ninety
nine out of a Thousand of which mean
death and he'll, multiplying on all
n You see them in every days
newspapers.
Our ministers in some regions have
no defense such as they have in other
regions where the banns must be pre-
viously published and an officer OF the
law must give a certificate that all is
right, S clergymen are left defense
less and unite those who ought never
to be united. Perhaps they are too
young, or perhaps they are standing
already in some domestic compact. By
the wreck of ten thousand homes, by
the holocaust of ten thousand sacri-
feed men and women, Z hearth
stone of the family. VI the cor
nerstone of h state, ~ he name
of that God who hath ne fam
lily institution and wiz alde the
breaking of the marital the most
appalling Of all perjuries, More the
congress of the United States to make
some righteous, uniform law for all
the states and from ocean to ocean on
this subject Of marriage and divorce.
WARNING TO THE YOUNG.
Let me say IL ALL young people, be-
fore you give yCur heart and hand in
holy alliance, use all caution. Inquire
outside as to habits, explore h dispo-
sition, scrutiniZe the taste, question
the ancestry and find out the ambi-
tions. Do not take the heroes and
the heroines of cheap novels for a mod
ell. Do not put your lifetime happi
ness in the keeping of a man who has
a reputation of being a little loose in
morals Oh in the keeping of a woman
who dresses immodestly. Remember
that, while good o are a kindly
gift of God, wrinkles or accident may
despoil them. Remember that Byron
was no more celebrated for his beauty
than for his ~depravity. Remember
that Absalom'S hair was not more
splendid tina his habits were despica-
BILE. Hear it! Hear it! The only
dation for happy marriage that ever
has been or ever will be is good char
acter.
Ask the counsel of father and mother
in this most important step of your
lie. In0y are SOOU duVISSTS. Lucy
are the best riends you ever had. They
| ma0A more sacrifices for you han any
one else ever did, and they will do more
today for your happiness than any 9TH
err people. Ask them, and, above all,
ask God. I used to smile at John
Brown Of Haddington, because, when
he was about to offer his hand n
heart in marriage to one who became
his lifelong companion, he opened the
conversation by saying, Let US pray"
But I hav seen so many Shlpwrecks
on the sea of matrimony I have made
up my mind that John Brown of Had
dington vas right. A union formed in
| prayer will be a happy union, though
sickness pale the cheek and poverty
empty the bread tray n death open
the small graves and all the path of
life be strewn with o rom the
marriage altar, with its W 0march
and orange blossoms, ics Gown to
the last farewell at -as- where
Isaac and Rebecca, AbrAf and Sa-
rah, Adam and Eve, parte. And let
me say to you who are in tn relation,
if you max one man or woman happy
! you have not lived in vain. Christ says
that what he is Ito the Church you
| ought to be to each other, and if m
times, through difference Of opinion OF
| difference of disposition, o make up
| your mind that you marriage was a
HTTI DO