The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-22


 some terrible inherited msiady or De merely poor, but whatever the obJeccon the time to raise 1t was before he ana Maud fell in love with each other and not afterwards. Yet every day people let their sons and daughters associate In an intimacy that can only lead t" love. anu then when they suddenly wake up to the
 fact that the young creatures want to ger married they are aghast. No father or mother has 8 right to les any young Han visit at their house that they would heA be willing to see their daughter marry.
 If American fathers were indifferent 10
 their daughters. if they regarded them as
 an incumbrance of which they wish to
 rid themselves as soon as possible py
 marrying them off, or even If they were unaware that marriage makes or mars the happiness of life, one could the more cas- fly understand their position on this sup ject Such, however, is far enough rom being the case. His daughter is the suoi of the American fathers heart, the one flower of his hard worked, struggling lffe'
 the being for whom he tolls and sacrificed, and to secure whose happiness he would die yet for all that he Is absolutely ana criminally careless about taking the com monest precaution to secure her a good husband.
 Some fine day Maud appears before him and announces that she is going to marry Adolphus Gustavus. whom she has met in New York, or San Francisco, or kal- amazoo and who, she assures her father,
 is the most adorable and delightful Of his sex and that she Is sure he Is ehgioie because he has a black mustache ana dances a two-step divinely. M aud is dear and her father worships her, but nc
 would not trust her judgment to pick out
 a setter puppy. while as for allowing her to buy a $aO0 piece of real estate. or in- vest in a share of stock on her own good, hard, horse sense. he wouldn't consider such a risk for a minute, But he trusts Maud to pick out husband of whom he knows nothing and who he probably has
 never seen until the wedding day. Is not this the most cynical and incom- prehcns!ble paradox of life? A man
 would not dream of putting his all in d piece of real estate in a neighboring city | without going to see it and investigating its titles and seeing what chances 1t mad of proving a good investment. He would l, not even buy a fine horse without looking into it's pedigree and ascertaining If It was sound and had good habits. On none | of these points would he take the opinion of young and ignorant girl who was taken by handsome outward appearances. | and whose very lack of experience of the | world prevented her from forming a | proper estimate of their worth, yet such | q man. shrewd and cautious in business, | will let his daughter marry a stranger | without ever taking the trouble of going | ta the mans home city to investigate how he stands. or if there are any mortgages on his past.
 What wonder is it, then. that we hear | so often of girls marrying men who prove | to be biganists or that we see so many women, broken in health and heart, com | ing back after a few years of married l life to seek the shelter and support of their fathers home? Never shall forget the anguish of shame and despair with
 which a beautiful and aristocratic girl l told me of her bridal trip and rude awak-
 ening to the fact that she had been de- ceived in the man with whose fate she had united her own. She married a hand | some young man of easy address and | pleasant manner, who was a drummer, | and who often spoke to her of his moth- | CTS place near the sea in Massachusetts. He took her there on their bridal tour, | when, to her horror, she discovered that his mother was a coarse and vulgar cre- | ature. who kept a low eating and drink ing house in seaport town. A case even
 more tragical occurred in this city year | | girl married a fascinating stranger, who represented himself as a wealthy man | from Chicago. After a few months of
 married life he disappeared, and her par
 ents making investigation after 1t was
 everlastingly too late. instead of in time
 to save their daughter, found that nc 1 such man as he represented himself to be | had ever existed.
 Marriage even at its best. and set about
 with all the safeguards with which one | can hedge It. has risk enough. Certainly
 no one should add to these by going into
 it blindly. and every girl has a right to l demand, especially of her father. that he
 protect her from the pitfalls into which | her ignorance of the world and of men
 would lead her. The father who does not l do this, who does not know personally and by reputation the young men who
 are visiting his daughter, and who, when
 she goes to marry, does not overhaul the
 past and forecast the future of the pros-
 pective son-in-law, has failed in his duty
 and if his daughter marries badly she
 has a right to blame him for her wrecked | life.