Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-10-27

the hearthstone Of the family, which is
the corner stone of the state, and in the
name of that God who hath set up the
family institution and who hath made
the breaking of the marital oath the
most appalling of all perjuries, | inn
plore the congress of the United States
to make some righteous, uniform law
for all the states ard from ocean to
ocean on this subject Of marriage and
6ivorce.
Let nee say TO all young people, before
you give your heart and hand in holy
alliance, use al caution. Inquire out.
side as to habits, explore the disposi-
ton, scrutinize the taste, question the
ancestry and lind out the ambitions,
Do not take the heroes and the heroinea
of cheap novels for Il model. Do not
put your lifetime happiness in the keep
ing of a man who has reputation for
being a little loose in morals or in the
keeping of woman who dresses i'm
modestly. Remember that, while good
looks are kindly gift of God, wrinkles
or accident may despoil them. Remem-
Der that Byron was no more celebrated
for his beauty than for his depravity.
Remember that Absalom's hair was not
more splendid than his habits were
despicable. Hear it! Hear ii! The
only foundation COR happy marriage that
ever has been or ever will be is good
character.
Ask the counsel of father and mother
in this most important step of your life.
They are good advisers. They are the
best friends you ever had. They made
more sacrifices for you than anyone else
ever did, and they will do more to-day
for your happiness than any other peo-
pie. Ask them, and, above all, ask God.
| used to smile at John Brown, of Had
dington, because, when he was about
to offer his hand and heart in marriage
to one who became his lifelong compan-
ion, he opened the conversation by say
ing: "Let us pray" But have seen
so many shipwrecks on the sea of mat
rimony l have made up my mind that
John Brown, of Haddington, was right.
A union formed in prayer will be a
happy union, though sickness pale the
cheek and poverty empty the bread tray
and death open the small graves and all
the path Of life be strewn with thorns,
from the marriage altar with its we'd
ding march and orange blossoms clear
on down to the last farewell at that
gate where Isaac and Rebecca, Abra-
ham and Sarah, Adam and Eve, parted.
And let me say to you who are in this
relation, if you make one man or wom'
an happy you have not lived in vain
Christ says that what He is to the
church you ought to be to each other,
and if sometimes, through the differ.
ence of opinion or difference of dispo
sition, you make up your mind that
your marriage was n mistake patiently
bear and forbear, remembering that
there is glory in the patient endur'
ance of sad yoke. Life at the longest
is short, and for those who have been
badly mated in this world death will
give quick and final bill of divorcement
written in letters of green grass on
quiet graves. And perhaps, my brother
my sister perhaps you may appreciate
each other better in Heaven than you
have appreciated each other on earth.
In the Farm Ballads" our American
poet puts into the lips of a repentant
husband, after life of married per-
turbation, these suggestive words:
And when she dies wish that she would be
laid by me.
And. lying together In silence, perhaps we
win agree,
And II ever we meet in Heaven I would
not think 1t queer
II we love each other better because we
quarreled here
And let me say to those of you who
are in happy married union, avoid frs
quarrels; have no unexplained CORE.
spondence with former admirers; cul-
tivate no suspicious; in moment Of
bad tember do not rush out and tell
the neighbors; do not let any of those
gadabouts of society unload in your
house their baggage of CAB and title
tattle; do not make it an invariablc
rule TO stand on your rights; learn
how TO apologize; do not be so proud
or so stubborn or so devilish that you
will not make up. Remember that the
worst domestic misfortunes and most
scandalous divorce cases started from
little infelicities. The whole piled up
train of ten rail cars telescoped and
smashed at the foot of an embankment
100 feet down came to that catastrophe
by getting two or three inches off the
track. Some Of the greatest domestic
misfortunes and the widest resounding
divorce cases have started from little
misunderstanding that were allowed
to go on and go on until home and re-
spectability and religion and immortal
soul went down in the crash.
Fellow citizens as well as fellow
Christians, let us have n divine rage
against anything that wars on the mar
riage state. Blessed institution! In
stead OF two arms to fight the battle
of life, four; instead of two eyes to
scrutinize the path of life, four; instead
of two shoulders to lift the burden of
life, four; twice the energy, twice the
courage, twice the holy ambition, twice
the probability of worldly success,
twice the prospect of Heaven. Into that
matrimonial bower God fetches two
souls. Outside the bower, room for all
contentious, and all chickering's and all
controversies, but inside that bower
there is room for only one guest-the
angel of love. Let that angel stand at
the floral doorway of this Edenic bower
with drawn sword to hew down the
worst foe Of that bower--easy divorce
And for every paradise lost may there
be n paradise regained. And after we
quit our home here may we have a
brighter home in Heaven, at the win.
dows of which, this moment, are ia.
mliar faces watching for our arrival
and wondering why so long we tarry.
A Fashionable Novelty.
II can be said with perfect safety that