The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1899-10-05

country has been pustulous literature,
with its millions of sheets every week
choked with stories of domestic wrongs
and infidelities and massacres and out
RACES, until it is 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 great
cities reek with the filth.
The congress of the United States
needs to move for a change of the ma
tional constitution and then to appoint
n committeeman made up of single gen.
tlemen, but of men of families, and their
families in 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 a 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 to the
more or less unfavorable circumstances.
| More difficult divorce will put an es-
toppelto great extent upon marriage as
a 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
ncrship of wedlock is utterly unattrac-
tive and in disposition a suppressed
| Nesuvius. Everybody knows it, but this
masculine candidate for matrimonial
orders. through the commercial agency
or through the county records finds out
how much estate is to be inherited,
and he calculates it. lie thinks out how
long it will be before the old man will
| die. and whether he can stand the re-
fractory temper until he does die. and
then he enters the relation, for he says:
"If cannot stand it, 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 n matter of stock specula-
tion as anything that was transacted
yesterday in Union Pacific, Wabash and
Delaware and Lackawanna. Now, sup
pose man understood, as he ought to
understand. that II 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 to himself:
Rather than n Caribbean whirlwind
with whole fleet of shipping in its
arms, give me zephyr off fields of sun
shine and gardens of peace"
Rigorous divorce law will also hinder
women from the fatal mistake of mar
rying men to reform them. II young
man, by 25 years of age or 30 years of
age, have the habit of strong drink fixed
on him. he is as certainly bound for
drunkards grave rs 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 ii may be thrown
from the track. The young man may
not reach drunkard's grave, for some
thing may throw him off 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 25 or
30 years of age will arrive at drunk
ards grave. She knows he drinks. al
though he tries to hide it by chewing
cloves. Everybody knows he drinks.
Parents warn; neighbors and friends
warn. She will marry him; she will re-
experiment. why, then, the divorce law
will emancipate her, because habitual
drunkenness is cause for divorce in
Indiana, Kentucky, Florida, Connecti-
cut and nearly all the states. So the
poor thing goes to the altar of sacri-
flee. If you will show me .he 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 it may be success
full experiment. I never saw the sue
cessful experiment. But have a rigor-
Gus divorce law, and that woman will
say: "If l am afiianced to that man, it
is for life, and il 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" mo, sir; you are al
ready married to the club, and you ere
married to that evil habit, and SO you
are married twice, and you are a biga-
mist. Co."
4 A rigorous divorce law will also do
much to hinder hasty and inconsiderate
marriages. Under the impression that
one can be 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! lis all they know
about each other. 1t is all the prepara-
ton for life. A man not able to pay his
own board bill, with not dollar in his
possession, will stand at the altar and
take the loving hand and say: with