Virginia gazette. [volume] (Williamsburg, Va.) 1893-192?, 1899-09-23
THE MARRIAGE VOWS
The Zee with Which They are
--rcken Is Dsplored.
Timely Discourse OF Dr. TaInaCe On
the Marital Rclation~--Jni-
form Divorce Laws Are
Needed.
rcopyright. 1899. by Louis Kiopsch.l
Washlreton sent Il


tance. which is cosfesseoIy as difficult
rs il Is urgent. The text is Matthew
1e-s: What therefore God hath Joined
together let no man put asunder."
That there are hundreds and thou
sands Of infelicitous homes in America
no one Will doubt. II there were only
one skeleton in the closet. that M ght be
locked up and abandoned, but ia many
home there is skeleton in the hall
way and a skeleton in all the apart
ments. "UnhapPily married are two
words descriptive OF many a homestead.
II needs TO orthodox minister 20 prove
20 badly mated pair that there is a
hell They are there now. Sometimes
grand and gracious woman Will be
thus incarcerated. and her life viii be
crucifixion. as was the case with Mrs.
Sigourncy, the great pOetess and the
great soul. Sometimes a consccrated
man Will be united TO a fury. as was
John Wesley. OF united 10 q vixen. as
was John Milton. Sometimes. and gen
orally. both parties are to blame. and
Thomas Carlyle Is an iniolerable grum-
bier. and his wife has pungent retort
always ready. and Froude. the his
tOrian. pledged 10 tell the plain truth.
has 10 pull aside the curtain from the
lifelong squabble at Craigenputtock
snd Cheyne row.
Some say that for the alienation OF
all these domestic disorders OF which We
hear easy divorce j. good prescriptions
God sometimes authorizes divorce ss
certainly "a he authorizes marriage.
have just as much regard for one law
fully divorced as have FOR one lawfully
married. But you know and know that
wholesale divorce is one OF our national
scourges. l am not surprised at this
when ] think of the Influences which
have been abroad initiating against the
marriage relation. For many ears the
platforms of the country rang with talk
about free love millennium. There
were meetings Of this kind held in the
Academy OF Music. Brooklyn. Cooper
Institute. New York; fremont temple.
Boston. and all over the land. Some OF
the women who were most prominent
IN that movement have since been dis
tinguished for great promise uosity OF
affection. Popular themes for such oc-
casiOns were the tyranny of mar. the
oppression OF the marriage relation.
women's rights and the afiinities.
Prominent speakers were women with
short curls and short dress and very
long tongue. everlastingly at war with
God because they were created women,
while or the platform sat meek men
with soft accent and cowed demeanOr
apologetic for maScuiuity and holding
the parasols while the termagant ora
tors went on preaching the gospel OF
free love. That campaign OF about q
years set more devils into the marriage
relation than will be exercised in the
next 50. Men and women went home
from such meetings 50 permanent,
confused as To " no were their wiVe,
and husbands that they never got out O,
the perPlexity. and the criminal and IN,
civil courts tried 10 disentangle the lilac
of woes, and this one got alimony. anC
that one got a limited divorce. and thi
mother kept the children on condition
that the father could sometimes com,
and look at them. and these went int
poorhouses, and those went into an in
sane asylum. and those went into dis
solute public life. and all went to de
struction. The mightiest war ever mad
against the marriage Institution wa
that free love campaign, sometimes ur
der one name and sometimes under an
other.
Another influence that has ware
upon the marriage relation has bee
polygamy In Utah. That Is q sterec
typed caricature of the marriage r,
lation and has poisoned the whole lanS
You might as well think that YOU ca
have an arm in a state Of mortihcatio
and yet the whole body not be sickene
as to have any territories or state
polygamized and yet the body OF th
nation not feel the putrefaction. Hes
al, good men and women of Americ
thatso long ago as 1862 law was passe
by congress forbidding polygamy in n
territories and in all the places wheI
they had Jurisdiction. Thirty-seve
years have passed along and nine al
ministrations. yet not until the passae
of the Edmunds law in 1852 was an
active policy of polygamic suppressio
adopted. Armed with all the power
governmentandh having an army at the
disposal. the first brick had not till the
been Knocked from that fortress of Ii
srtinism. Every new president in IA
inaugural tickled that monster with II
straw of condemnation, and every co
gress stultihed itself in proposing son
plan that would not work. Polygan
stood in Utah and in other of the teri
tories more intrenched, more braze
mol> puissant, more braggart and mo
L. a., Tsrna IN nj 81 nv