Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1903-01-17

was lifted the night before her we'd
ding and who sits by the window con-
tinually denouncing the recreant lover
and the woman for whom he broke his
VOWS. pity that old gray haired
mother who for twenty years has been
denounclng her only son because she
thinks he wants to poison her for her
money. | pity that insane wife who
will never allow her husband to enter
her room because she thinks he has
been false to her. All, these are the in
sane patients who are to be pltied!
Never did John Fox In his famous
Book Of Martyrs" depict more excru
ciating agonles than some of these poor
insane wretches daily suffer- who brood
over the idea that their friends have
been turned into enemies.
Maddening jealousy. often baseless,
is the cause Of innumerabe domestic
and social infelicties, causing misery
alike to its victim and its object. IL
makes the wife suspect the husband
OF wrongdoing. 1t makes the husband
impugn the motives and actions OF his
wife 1t is the cause Of most or the
auarrels Of lovers. which have wrecked
the happiness of many lives for time
and eternity. 1t lashes Othello into a
frenzy until the murderous fingers are
clutching at the throat Of his innocent
wife and the suicidal knife las made
an end Of the swarthy Moor. 1t was
the cause Of the horrors in the last
earthly days of Ivan the Terrible, who
in a fit Of jealousy with an iron stan
crushed in the skull Of his eldest born
and favorite child. 1t is the heaying'
destructive earthquake which has rock
ed TO ruins thousands Of family affairs.
It has shattered many domestic wall
under the ceaseless bombardment OF
tempestuous denunciation and the IRE
sistible flood Of remorseful tears.
A CnuscIess Frenzy.
The saddest part Of these insane ar
fictions, where men and women VIII
sometimes turn upon their best friends
and brood over the idea that they are
untrue. is that often their frenzied sur
misses are without any legitimate cause.
They may only be the strange halluci-
nations of a diseased intellect Their
loved ones may be doing everything IN
their power for their sick minds; they
may take them to the most expensive
of asylums and have for them the best
of physicians and nurses; they may
continually visit them and have their
rooms filled with flowers and have car
riages always at their disposal These
friends may stint themselves and Law
ish their money In every possible way
for the comfort Of their weak mindeu
relations, yet these insane patients can
never be persuaded that their friends
are faithful to them. Though husbands
and wives and children may be doing
everything that can be done for their
happiness, yet they will keep on IN
their upbraidings and fault findings
and denunciatlons until at last they
will drive those who are nearest ana
dearest to them from their sides. NO
impression will cause husband TO de-
spise q wife quicker than the belief
that she distrusts him and Will not
credit what he says; no knowledge On
earth will send a young woman to de-
etruetion sooner than the thought that
the man she married has dropped the
role of a lover for that Of sneaking de-
tective. Continual fault finding and
false accusations and frenzied distrust
and yenomous sneers and multitudl-
nous reproaches and sulky broodings
always defeat their own ends with our
loved ones as jealousy also defeats Its
own aim in our treacherous dealings
| with our hated rivals The rattlesnake's
| fang ie a poor receptacle in which tG
store the honey Of an orange blossom.
The most virulent forms Of madden
ing jealousy can often be found among
the old as we'll as among the young
The superintendents Of the great In
sane asylums will tell you that some OF
their patients have been living IL
| charge of their keepers for ten, twenty
thirty and sometimes even forty or
Afty wears. | remember. some years
ago. that | saw an old woman in the
Flatbush Insane asylum, who, | be-
Iieve. had been there for nearly fifty
years. She thought she was the queer
Of England. and she wore a paper
cornucopia upon her head for a crown
She was there knightiug her courtlers
and creating earls, marquises and
dukes out Of the attendants and WIS.,
itors. tust as she did when first brought
into the asylum many years ago. SO
we find that the evil flames Of madden
ing jealousy can sometimes burn as
fiercely in the sinful hearts Of men and
women who have lived their twoscore
wears and ten MS In the hearts Of the
young who are just starting out In the
struggle Of life.
Fathers and mothers and older men
and women, would not for moment
cast slur on your past usefulness or
belittle the respect which the " Jrld
ought to show to gray hairs; b. :, hon.
estly and frankly, do you not feel that
the young folks ought to have theu
first lessons Of magnanlmity from you!
When your time comes to go, would
you not rather that your sons and
daughters should weep about your dy-
ing bed and feel that they have lost a
dear, helpful friend than that they
shall be glad that you are dying be-
: cause you are holding with selfsh
grip to all that you have? My aged
friend, you should not only be willing
to live, but you should also be willing
to let live. Every old merchant should
try to help the young merchant. Ev-
cry old physician should be ready to
lend his medical books to the young
physician and speak a good word for
him in the nelghborhood Every old
lawyer should be willing to give lis
advice to the young lawyer, and every