The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-05
TALES OF SADNESS.
5a ~
Divorce Proceedings
Pull Ghosts From
Many Closets,
WRECK OF A MINISTER'S LIFE.
His Happiness Gone Like
That Of the Social Lead
ef and Many Others.
WRECK OF A MINISTER'S LIFE.

~ Va VI NJ
Do people get married in order that
they can have a divorce?
That seems a foolish question, but the
long list of divorce libels that was heard
at q recent sitting Of the superior court
in Worcester sets one to thinking.
Worcester county is not so very. large,
yet the divorce cases keep plling up
Many pitiful tale is told in the court
room; stories that would seem to belong
only to the realm of the sensational
novel, or the melodrama. But these
men and women, who come into the
court room to have the Judge by a
brief degree sunder that tie SO solemn
" pronounced by the minister, as he
closes with what God has Joined to-
gether let no man put asSunder," are
people IN actual. life. Month by month
these men and women, tired of their
married life, Disguised with their life's
partner. come and go through the pro-
cess of the court to be free. The court
reporter, who takes an abstract of the
-Heels as they are disposed of by the
court, seldom says more than libel
was brought for such and such grounds,
and adecree was granted nisi
me women who appear on the wit
ness stand are the ones who show the
most of suffering in their faces; faces
prematurely old, scanned with cares
that
THEIR HUSBANDS PROMISED
before God,4to. shield them from. And
the story Is always strangely the same.
The first Years of married life are al
ways pleasant, and then comes the re-
vealing of some depraved habit or the
commission of some black SIM and then
the peace IN that household has depart
ed. Nor Isl the woman always the one
who tells of disappointed affection
Some of the saddest stories are those
a husband tells of an erring wife. A
bad woman always seems worse than a
bad man,sfor her children suffer more
from her Neglect
There was a case that came up for
hearing at a recent trial of divorce cas-
ess here in Worcester, that seems one
OF the farthest reaching in its conse-
quences of any of those heard by the
court. In the official report of the pro-
ceedings there was but the briefest
mention, but the story emitting names,
points moral that does not have to
be carefully explained.
@ The story is that of a young minister,
talented, earnest and consecrated to
his 1ffe'S profession. He was in charge
of a f1ourishing church and he labored
for the good of his people with all his
heart and all-his soul. He became
greatly beloved by his parishfoners,
and when, one day,
BLUsHING LIKE A BOY,
he told one of his deacons that he was
about to be married, all his people took
q warm interest in his choice
After a short honeymoon, the bride
was9 Installed as mistress of the par
sonage. All seemed to go well for a
time, and the young minister's ser
mons breathed of an earthly love as
well as a divine. But it was not long
before scandal mongers began to get
together and talk of something that be-
gan with they say" At the weekly
PRAYER meeting it was evident thai
there was a piece of gossip that proved
much more interesting than the pas
tor s words In the parish club, groups
Of women would get together and sud
denly stop with a conscious air when
the minister's wife drew near them.
Gossip spreads faster than a summer S
fire on western prairie, and of course
Some good soul had to tell the minis
ter. The smile left his face when he
beard what the kind friend had to say,
but he believed not in the gossip.
: 1t is hard for some men to believe evil
of woman, and when that woman is
his own wife, doubly so. But one day
the young pastor returned from MAX
ing calls to find the. house deserted. And
that was the beginning, and the end
was not far Off The next that was
heard from the pastors wife was that
She was in New York and
LEADING A GAY LIFE,
passing off as an unmarried woman
Inothe meanwhile some of those disin-
terested persons to be found in every
church, began to bring evidence tC
their minister that would constitute a
cause FOR divorce.
At last it had to come and the youne
clergyman felt that he could no long
er keep his parish, although he was
in no fault, and the next Sunday he
read his letter of resignation that was
accepted without dissenting vote
And the end came when this servant
Of God felt it duty to himself and the
community to sever the bond of matri-
nlony for the scriptural reason. There
was no contest, and while the libel read
for desertion, there was stronger rea-
son behind.
A MANS LIFE HAS BEEN RUINED
and the woman-weH she lives in life
of fashion. such as it is, in another
state. And this is but one of the many
pitifuf things one hears in the court
room Where justice is melted out to all
and the lives Of women and men are
laid bare to public gaze.
Another story is that of a sweet young
girl. popular in the set she went with
and sought after by the young men. OF
course. She had to fall in love with one
OF them, and that man was the worst
choice she could have made. They start
ed their married life in a dainty fiat
costly furnished, and with an ample in
come The young husband had fine
business and every night came home tc
his pretty wife. But this life did not last
and one night he came home beastly
drunk. The next day there We're tears
and solemn vows, but soon the hateful
thfugah happened again and it came to
bAgaH common occurrence. The young
wife lost her beauty but kept her own
connsels until one day he struck hei
and that was more than she could bear
She left him, to drink up his store and
the savings of his fathers long, hard
life. AT last, money gone, together with
his self-respect, he came whining back
I'd his wife and borrowed some money
from her. That too, went for what tenn
nerancec7 lecturers call rum and al
last. ruined in health and fortune. he
was placed in the charity ward of hos
,.tt,T gor dihsnnnaniaCs On the advice