The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1899-09-21
REV. DR.. TALMT
THE EMINENT DIv1NE'S
DISCOURSE.

Importance which Is confessedy as difi0
cult ms II is urgent The text Is Matthew
XIX, 6, what therefore God hath jolne
together let not man put nsunder"
That there are hundreds and thousand
OF infelicltous homes In America no on
VIII doubt. III there were only one skeletoi-
in the closet, that might be locked up and
Abandoned. but in many home there is "
skeleton In the hallway and skeleton i'm
all the apartments. "Unhapplly married J
are two words descriptive OF many home. I
stead. IL needs no orthodox minister to
prove to badly mated pair that there is a
hell. They are there now. Sometimes
grand aud gracious woman will bc thus in.
cnrcerated, and her life will be II cruel.
flxion as was the case with Mrs. Sigour.
ney, the great poetess aud the great soul
Sometimes consecratcd mnn will be united
TO fury, MS was John Wesley, or united 10
svixen, us was John Milton. Sometimes
and generally both parties are to blame.
and Thomas Carlyle Is an intolerablc
grumbler, and his wife has pungent re-
tort always ready. and Froude, the histc.
rian, pledged TO tell the plain truth. has to
pull aslde the curtain from the lifelong
squabble at Craigenpdltock and Cheyne
row.
Some say that for tho alienation OF nil
these domestic disorders oi which wo hear
easy divorce Is "A good prescription. God
sometimes authorizos divorce rs certainly
us He authorizes marringp. Ihave Just as
have for one lawfully married But YOU
know and know that Wholesale divorce
is one OF onr national scourges. lam not
surprised at this when thlnk OF the infiu-
ences which have been abroad initiating
against the marriage relation. For many
yenrs the platforms OF the country rang
With ta.k about a free love millennium.
There were meetings Of this kind held in
th Academy OF Music Brooklyn; Cooper
Institute, New York; fremont Temple.
Boston, ana all over the land Some OF the
women who were most prominent in that
movement have since been distinguished
TO. great promiscuslty OF affection. p)pu-
lu- themes for such occasions were tho TYR
unay OF man, the oppression OF the mar
riagc relation, women's rights and tho
afilnties. Prominent speakers wera
woman with short curls and short
dress and very long tongue, ever.
lastingly at wnr with Col because they
were created women, whilo on she plat
forrl snt meek men with soft accent and
cowed demenuor, Hpologellc for masculin-
lty and holding the parasols while the
termagant orators wont on preachlng the
gospel OF Tree love. That campaign Of
about twenty wears set more devil into the
marriage relation than will he exercised In
the next nfty. Men and women went home
from such meetings so permanently CON
fused as to who were their wives aud hus-
bands that IL ey never got out OF the per-
piexlty, and the criminal aud the civil
courts tried 10 disontangle the Illad ct
woes, and the one got alimony, and that
one got II limited dlvorp aud this mother
kept the children Y dltion that ths
father could sometb no aud look at
them, aud thess I" poorhouses.
ana those went itt ne asylum, and
those went into sublc lie and
MI went to destr >Nie mightiest war
ever made ngV 'r'narrlage institution
was that frea .5 campaign, sometimes
under one name and sometimes under au-
other.
Another influence that has watred upon
the marriage relation Las been polygamy
II Urah That is II stereotypeJ caricature
of the marriage relation and has poisoned
the whole land, You might rs well think
that You can have an arm ina state OF NOR
tincation and yet the whole body not be
sickened as TO have any Territories or
States polygamized and yet the body of the
nation not feel the putrefaction. Hear Il
good men and women or America, that 80
long ago as 1862 law was passed by Con.
gress forbiddiDg polgumy In tho Terrlt ories
ana in all tue places where ;hey had iuris-
dtction. Thirty-seven years have passed
along and nine administrations vet not
until the passage OF the Edmunds law in
1882 was any active policy OF polygamc
suppression adopted. Armed with all the
power OF government and having nn army
ut their disposal, the first brick had not till
then been Knocked from that fortress OF lib.
ortiusm. Every new President IN his lnaug.
ural tlckled that monster with the straw
condemnation, and every Congress stultllied
itself In proposing some plan that would
not work. Polygamy stood In Utah and
in other Of the Territories more intrenche
more brazen, more pulssant more brac-
gart and more internal than Mt any time
In its history. james Huchauan, u much
abused man OF his Gay. did more for the
extirpation OF this yiIlainy than all the
tNca l,,tr rfalx n a.
to 1882. Mr.. Buchanan sent out IN army.
aud, although Il was halted In Its work, still
he accomplished moro than the subsequent
administrations, which did nothing but
talk, talk. talk. Even at this late day aud
with the EimunGs act in force the evil has
hot been wholly extirpated, Poygamy In
Utah, though outlawed, IL still practiced
! in secret. IL has wnrred against the mar.
riage relation throughout the land. 1t is
impossible to have such an awful sewer OF
iniquity sending rp its miasma, which l.
waited by the winds north, south east and
west, without the whole land being affected
by It.
Now" say some. 'wo admit all these
evils, ana the only way to clear them out
or to correct them Is by easy divorce"
Well, before we yield to that cry let ,is find
out how easy II Is now. / have looked
over the laws CT Ill the States, and I find
that, while In some States II is easier than
in others, in every State 1t is easy. The
State OF Illinois through its Legislature
recltes II long list OF proper causes for
divorce nnd then closes up by giving
TO the courts thu right to make u de-
cree OF divorce in any case where they
leom 1t expeiient, After that you are
nos surprised ut the announcements
that Ia one year there were s33 dl-
Vorces. III you want to know how easy
It IL, you have only to look over the records
OF the States--in Massachusetts, Coz d.
yorces in one year; IN Maine, AIS in
Que year, in Connecticut, s0l divorces
in ono year; III the city OF San
Frapclsco, 339 divorces IN one year; in
New England In ons year, 21l3 divorces
and in twenty years ia New England, 90
COO Is that not easy enCughs II the sume
ratio continues the ratio OF multiplied dl-
vorce aud multiplied causes OF divorce,
we are not far from tho time when our
courts will have to set apart whole days
for application and all you will have to
prove against n man Will he that he left bis
slippers In the middle OF the door; and all
yOu will have TO prove against u woman
will be that her husbands overcoat was
Duttonless Cause OF divorce doubled In
few years-doubied In France, doubled In
England and doubled In the United States.
70 show how very easy 1t is, have to tell
sou that In Western Reserve, Ohio, the
proportion OF divorces to marriages cele-
brated was 10 one year TO IL; IN Rhode
Island, TO 81 in Vermont, to IA. Is not