The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1899-09-21
THE EMINENT DTv1NE's
DISCOURSE.
Subject: The Divorce Ouestlon-bN
Disorders Subject of Nationasa
portance--Uniformi OF Divorce
in the.various states Suggested.

I
grand aud gracious woman will be thus in.
carcerated and her life will be n cruel. I
ilxion as was the case with Mrs. Sigour. I
ney, the great poetess aud the great soul. I
Sometimes n consecratcd man will be united /
10 II fury, rs was John Wesley, or united to
vixen, ny was John Milton Sometimes /
and generally both parties are to blame.
and Thomas Carlyle Is an intolerabc
grumbler, and his wife has pungent re-
tort always ready. and Froude, the histo-
rian, pledged TO tell the plniu truth. has to
pull aside the curtain from the lifelong
s1uabble at Cragenpdt.ock and Cheyne
row.
some say tha. for tho alienation OF all
these domestic disorders of Which we hear
easy divorce Is n good prescription. God
sometimes authorizos divorce Ms certainly
MS He authorizes marriage. Ihave just as
much regard for one lawfully divorced as
/ have for one lawfully married. But YOU
know and know that Wholesale divorce
IL one OF our national scourges. am not
surprised Mt this when thlnk ot the influ-
ences which have been abroad initiating
against the marriage relation. For many
years the platforms OF the country rang
with tax about free love millennium.
There were meetings OF this kind held In
ths Academy OF Music, Brooklyn; Cooper
institute, New York; fremont Temple,
Boaton ana all over the land. Some OF the
women who were most prominent in that
Increment have since been distinguished
TO. grent promscusity OF affection. p)pu-
lus themes for such occasions were the tyr
nnay OF man, the oppression OF the mar
rngc relation, womens rights and tho
afTlnities. Prominent speakers were
women with short cugls and short
dress and very long tongue, ever
| lastingly ~ war with Cod because they
| were created womep. while on .he plat
| fora snt meel neu with soft accent aud
cowed demenuor, apolocetic for mnsculin-
| ity and holding the parasols while the
termagant orators wont on preachlng the
gospel OF Tree love. That campaign OF
| about twenty years set moro devil into the
| marriage relation than will be exercised In
| the next atty. Men and women won't home
| from such meetings so permnnently cou-
| fused as to who were tleir wives and hus-
| bands that Il ey never got out OF the per-
plexity, and tho criminal and the civil
courts tried 20 disentaugle the Iliad ct
| woes, aud the one got almonY, and that
one got limited divors@ aud this mother
| kept tho children dltion that th =
father could somett no aud look at
| them and these - o poorhOuSeS
| and those went iuP he asylum, and
| those went into subtle lie, and
| nll went to destr Ne mightiest war
| over made aga Nnarriage institution
was that frea r campaign, sometimes
under one name and sometimes under an-
other.
| Another influence that has watrea upon
the marriage relation Las been polygamy
~ Utah That IL n stereotypei carlcature
of the marriage relation and has poisoned
the whole land, You might rs well think
| that you can have an arm In II state OF NOR
tincation and yet the whole body not be
sickened as TO have any Territories OF
States polygamized and yet the body OF the
nation not feel the putrefaction. Hear It
good men and women or America, that 81
long ago IA 1862 a law was passed by Con
gress forbiddiDg polgamy In the Terrlt orie'
and in all the places where ;hey had inrls
diction. Thirty-seven yenrs have passed
along and nine administrations. yet mo-
until the passage Of the Edmunds law il
1882 was any active policy OF polygaml'
suppression adopted. Armed with all tn,
power OF government and having an. army
ut their disposal, the llrst brick had not til
then been knocked from that fortress OF lib
, ortuism. Every new President In his inaug
ural tickled that monster with the stray
condemnation and every Congress stultlliei
: itself In proposing some nlun that woul,
not work. Polygamy stood in Utah, an'
in other Of the Territories more intrenched
more brazen, more pussRnt, more brac
gart and more internal than at any tim
in its history. james Buchauan, u mucl
abused man of his Gay. did more for th
oxtirpation OF this vIlainy than all th
2 subses suent administrations dared to do nj
, TO 1882. Mr.. Buchanan sent out TN army
and, although = was halted In its work, still
l he accomplished more than the subsequen
administrations, which did nothing bu
, talk, talk. talk. Even at this late day an
with the E'imunGs act in force the evil hn
lot been wholly oXtirpated. Polygamy 7
Utah, though outlawed, IL still practices
= in secret. IL has wurred against the maI
4 riage relation throughout the land. 1t
. impossible to have such an awful sewer o
\ iniquty sending Up its miasmn, which
4 waited by the winds north south, east nn
q west without the whole land being arecte
q by It.
Nov" say some. 'wc admit all thes
u evils, and tho only way to clear them ou
!. or to correct them Is by easy divorce.
/ Well before we yield 10 that cry let ne fin
n out how easy It Is now. 1 have locke
- over the laws CT I'LL the States and fin
that, while In some states II is easier tha
in others, in every Stnte 1t is easy. Th
: state OF Illinois through its Legislature
recites II long list OF proper causes fc
diyoreo and then closes up by givin
TO the courts thu right to make d.
cree OF divorce in any case where the
,lenm Il eXpedlent, After that you III
not surprised Mt the announcemeI
that la one year thero were 939 d
vorces. III you want 10 know how eas
Il IL, you have only to look over the reco orr
OF the States-in Massachusetts, G0l d
vorees in one year; In Maine, AIS
Que year, in Connecticut, 40l divorce
in ono year; IN the city OF Sd
Francisco, 333 divorces In ono year.
New England In onN year, 2l13 divorce
and In twenty years In New England, 20
COO IL that not easy encughg II the sun
ratio continues the ratio OF multiplied d
vorce aud multiplied causes OF dlvorc
we are not far from tho time when ol
courts will have to set apart whole la,
for application, and all you wilt have
\ prove against a man will he that he left Il
slippers in the middle OF the door; and q
yOn will have to prove against u Won't
4 will be that her husbands overcoat w
Duttonless. Cause OF divorce doubled In
few years--doub.ed In France. doubled
England and doubled In tho United state
70 show how very easy 1t is, have to L
you that In Western Reserve, Ohio, q
proportion OF divorces to marriages Gel
brated was ia one year to IL; In Rho
Island, TO S; In Vermont | to IA. Is IL
that easy enough?
want you 10 notice that frequency
divorce always goes along with the diss
iuteness OF society. Rome for 500 yea
had not one case OF divorce. Those we
her days OF glory aud virtue. Then I
reign OF vice began, and divorce becar
epidemic. II you want to know how ra
idly the empire went down, ask Gibbo
Do you know how the reign AZ terror "
introduced In FranceY BY aO,0 600 cases
divorce lu one yeas In Paris.
What wo want Is that the Congress
the United States move for the changl
of the national constitution so that a !
can be passed which shali be uniform
over the country and what shall be ,ril
in one State shall be right in all the Sta
and what Is wrong In one State will