The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1899-09-22


with it's millions of sheets every week
choked with stories of domestic wrongs
and infidclities and massacres and out
RACES, until il Is a wonder to me that
there are any decencies or any common
sense left on the subject of marriage.
One half of the news stands of our greet
cities reek with the filth.
The congress of the United States
needs To move for n change OF the ma
tional constitution and then TO appoint
acommittee-not made up of single gem
tlemen. but Of men of families, and their
families i'm Washington-who shall pre-
pare good, honest, righteous. compre-
hensive. uniform law that will control
everything from Sandy Hook TO the
Golden Gate. That will put an end TO
brokerages in marriage, That will send
divorce lawyers into decent business.
That will set people agitated for many
years on the question Of how they shall
get away from each other to planning
how they can adjust themselves 10 the
more or less unfavorable circumstances.
More difficult divorce will put an es-
toppelto a great extent marriage as
financial speculation. There are men
who go into the relation just as they go
into Wall street to purchase shares.
The female To be invited into the part
nership Of wedlock is utterly unattrac-
tive and in disposition a suppressed
Nesuvius. Everybody knows IL. but this
masculine candidate for matrimonial
orders, through the commercial agency
or through the county records finds out
how much estate is to I've inherited,
and he calculates il. He thinks out how
long il will be before the old man will
die. and whether be can stand the re-
fractory temper until he does die, and
then he enters the relation. for he says:
III l cannot stand il, then through the
divorce law | will back out. That proc
ess is going on all the time, and men en-
ter the relation without any moral
principle, without any affection, and il
is as much a matter of stock specula-
ton as anything that was transacted
yesterday in Union Pacific, Wabash and
Delaware and Lackawanna. Now, sup
pose a man understood. as he ought TO
understand, that il he goes into that
relation there is no possibility of his
getting out, or no probability. He
would be more slow TO put his neck in
the yoke. He should say 10 himself:
Rather than Caribbean whirlwind
with n whole feet Of shipping in its
arms, give me zephyr of fields of sun
shine and gardens Of peace"
Rigorous divorce law wilt also hinder
women from the fatal mistake of mar
man, by 25 years of age or 80 years Of
age, have the habit OF strong drink fixed
on him. he is as certainly bound for
drunkard's grave as that a train start
ing out from the Grand Central depot
at eight o'clock tomorrow morning is
bound for Albany. The train may not
reach Albany. for IL may be throwSI
not reach drunkard's grave, for spnhe-
thing may throw him of the iron track
OF evil habit. But the probability is
that the train that starts tomorrow
morning at eight o'clock for Albany will
get there, and the probability is that
the young man who has the habit Of
strong drink fixed on him before % or
30 years OF age will arrive at a drunk
ards grave. She knows he drinks, al
though he tries TO hide it 10y chewing
cloves. Everybody knows he drinks.
Parents warn; neigEOors and friends
warn. She will marry him; she will re-
form him. II she is unsuccessful in the
experiment, why, then, the divorce law
will emancipate her, because habitual
drunkenness is cause for divorce in
Indiana, Kentucky, Florida, Connect
cut and nearly all the states. SO the
poor thing goes 20 the altar of'sacri.
flee. II you will show me the poverty
struck streets in any city, will show
you the homes of the women who mar
ried men TO reform them. In one case
out of ten thousand il may be success
full experiment. | never saw the sue
cessful experiment. But have a rigor-
Gus divorce law, and that woman will
say: "If / am afiianced 10 that man, IL
is for life. and If now, in the ardor OF
his young love and the prize 10 be won,
he will not give up his cups, when he
has won the prize surely he will not
give up his cups" ono, sir; you are al
ready married to the club, and you are
married 10 that evil habit, and so you
are married twice, and you are a biga-
mist. Co"
\ rigorous divorce law will also do
much 10 hinder hasty and incousiderate
marriages. Under the impression that
one can he easily released. people enter
the relation without inquiry and with
out reflection. Romance and impulse
rule the day. Perhaps the only ground
for the marriage compact is that she
likes his looks, and he admires the
graceful way she passes around the ice
cream at the picnic! II is all they know
about each other. IL is all the prepare
ton for life. A man not able 20 pay his
own board bill, with not a dollar in his
possession, will stand at the altar and
take the loving hand and say: with
all my worldly goods | thee endow." A
woman that could not make a loaf OF
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 conjoined wretched-
ness; for If man does not believe there
is God he is neither TO be trusted with
4 4. ~.