The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1899-09-20


anced to that man, it is for life, and if
now, in the ardor of his young love and
| the prize to be won, he will not give up
his cups, when he has won the prize
surely he will not give up his cups" And
so that woman will say to the man: No,
sir; you are already married to the club.
and you are married to that evil habit,
and so you are married twice, and you
are a bigamist. Go"
A rigorous divorce law will also do
much to hinder hasty and nconsiderate
marriages. Under the impression that
one can be easily released, people enter
the relation without inquiry and without
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! 1t is all they know about each
other. 1t is all the preparation for life.
A man not able to pay his own board
bill, with not a dollar in his possession,
will stand at the altar and take the low
ing hand and say, with all my worldly
goods / thee endow." A woman that
could not make 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 wretchedness; for if a
man does not believe there is God he
is neither to be trusted with a dollar nor
with your lifelong happiness. Having
read much about love in a cottage, peo-
pie brought tip in ease will go and starve
in hovel. Runaway matches and elope-
ments, nine hundred and ninety out
| of thousand of which mean death and
hell, multiplying on all hands. You see
them in every days newspapers.
C1ergymen Left Defense1ess.
/! Our ministers in some regions have no
| defense such as they have in other re-
| gions where the banns must be previous
| ly published and an officer Of the law
| must give a certificate that all is right,
so clergymen are left defenseless and
| unite those who ought never to be united.
| Perhaps they are too young, or perhaps
| they are standing already in some do
| nestle compact. BY the wreck Of ten
thousand homes, by the holocaust Of ten
thousand sacrificed men and women, by
the hearthstone Of the family, which is
| the cornerstone Of the state, and in the
|
family institution and who hath made the
breaking Of the marital oath the most
appalling of all perjuries, implore the
Congress of the United States to make
some righteous, uniform law for all the
States and from ocean to ocean on this
subject of marriage and divorce.
| Let me say to all young people, before
you give your heart and hand in holy
alliance, use all caution. Inquire outside
as to habits, explore the disposition, scru-
tinize the taste, question the ancestry and
find out the ambitions. Do not:take the
heroes and the heroines Of cheap novels
for model. Do not put your lifetime
| happiness in the keeping of a man who
has reputation for being little loose in
morals or in the keeping of a<woman who
| dresses immodestly. Remember that,
while good looks are q kindly gift of
God, wrinkles or accident may despoil
them. Remember 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
| it. The only foundation for happy mar
riage 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 any one else
ever did, and they will do more to-day for
your happiness than any other people
| Ask them. and, above all, ask God. ]
used to smile at John Brown of Haddng-
| ron hncauSp whom ha yyoc obn,rt RI flo,
his hand and heart in marriage to one
who became his lifelong companion. he
| opened the conversation by saying, LET
us pray" But | have seen so many ship
wrecks on the sea of matrimony | have
made up my mind that John Brown of
| Haddington was right. A union formed
in prayer will be happy union, though
sickness pale the cheek and poverty emp
ty the bread tray and death open the
small graves and all the path of life be
strewn with thorns from the maria &c
altar with its wedding march and orange
blossoms clear on down to the last fare
well at that gate where Isaac and Re-
becca, Abraham and Sarah, Adam and
Eve, parted. And let me say to you
who are in this relation, il you make one
man or woman 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 difference
Of opinion or difference Of disposition, you
make up your mind that your marriage
was mistake, patiently bear and for
! bear, remembering that there is a glory
in the patient endurance of a 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 di-
| vorcement 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.
Ouarre1s to Be Avoided,
| Let me say to those Of you who are in
happy married union, avoid first uuarrels.
have no unexplained correspondence with
| former admirers; cultivate no suspicious
in moment Of bad temper 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
little tattle; do not make it an inyariable
rule to stand on your rights; learn how
tn do l.