Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-01-14

obtained on the flimsiest excuses.
Bishop Fallows, in Il scathing attack
upon this marital evil, quotes some Of
the most absurd and trivial causes Oh
account of which men and women have
been divorced. One woman got legal
divorce because her husband enlisted
in the United States navy: another be-
cause her husband smoked and gave
her hendAchcs another because her
husband called her sister thief; an
other because her husband did not like
her front hair and cut part Of 1t Off.
One husband secured a divorce be.
cause his wife refused 10 sew on his
buttons; another because lie told his
wife he had found another woman
whom he could love better Think of
any minister being guilty of such Il
heinous sin as to marry such Divorces
to other marital partners. 1t is high
time for us ministers TO band together
and rouse public sentiment upon this
question. BY our actions az well as
by our preaching we must protest
against this national crime. We must
do this because church marriage be-
fore God and man means that the
church gives its sanction 10 the union
and regards it us sacred and indissolu-
bic.
Another breakwater which may help
to rescue this country from the divorce
evil, as the Holland bikes have made
a rescued ocean bed the home for the
Dutch queens subjects. IS for parents
81 hot ~.
marital enga gcmcnt as almost as sa-
cred as the marriage itself. Daughters
and sons should think deeply and long
before they p1sht troth 10 amy one. 1t
IL to teach them that ono of the most
| heinous Of sins is TO trife with the
human heart. 1t Is to teach them that
every young woman is compromised
for life who has been guilty of engag-
ing herself TO different young men
'just for fun" Such actions on the
part of any young lady arc less the sign
of mental and physical grace and social
popularit! than Of Il dcpraved female
heart Yet almost everywhere we see
the future tare harvest. which shall yet
be gathered in the divorce courts. now
being planted in the poisonous seeds Of
engagements hastily made and just MS
hastily broken.
A Hint to Parcpta.
once heard Of a young lady who
| used to boast that she was engaged 10
three different young mon II the same
time. She had in her possession three
different engagement rings. After
I cNA Al oil s c,1it,
and married fourth. 10 you WON
der that after such pcrGdies her mar
rled life was unhappy? Untrue to her
fiance. Of course she was untrue to her
husband. divorce scandal a few
years later WAS the result. Her father,
noble Christian man OF thu west. ]
a result felt himself disaraccd and re-
signed his pulpit. for he was minis
| ter. His life was 10 some extent wreck.
ed, az we'll MS hers. You say such a
course as that is an extreme case? or
course. But all evils should not he
dcspised because they are not mon
strous evils. The little. seemingly
harmless nrtations during summer va
cations or at church picnic or in the
street car or concert hall are all divorces
seed plantings. You cannot trifc with
human affections in youth without be-
! ing In danger. az an iconoclast OF
! smashing the marriage shrine when
you are middle aged Let parents DO
/ careful with whom thcir children 1850.
! ciatc. Let them beTarc Of what they
ARE allowed To say 10 others and what
Others are allowed to say 10 them. It
| Is all well enough 10 talk about the
Wanted freedom OF tho American boy
and girl but. for my own part. csNe-
/ eially in reference TO the promiscuouS
association of young people and the
careless promises they are allowed to
make, | think they have altogether too
| much freedom.
Another divorce preventive: Finan-
cial expenses in tho great ma iority Of
homes should be curtailcd and greatly
! diminished. Tho income should not ne
made 10 meet the ou.go. The outco
should be contracted until there is n
sufficient margin left Tor unexpected
expenses, such as sickness or loss of
work or financial rcvcrses Tie prov
erb says, when poverty comes In at
the door love flies out Of the window. "
That Is not true whom al members are
systematically trying 10 do their best.
But when husband and wife 20 upon
the supposition that marriages arc
made in heaven and then. with blinded
eyes RIM needlessly into debt there is
nearly always marital friction The
wife blames tho husband. the husband
the wife. Perpetual friction. then. on
account of the money question ignitcs
the divorce fires. Then the family altar
goes MP in a Satanic blaze
Another divorce preventive: The pu-
rincation Of the American press, both
in book form and IL periodical and in
the morning newspaper. The pestlfer-
Gus trash which every day and every
week and every month. like Il winter
blizzard, il flung into our faces by the
snewstorm of the printing press is
enough to destroy the healthy heart
throbs Of any young person who is al
lowed to read it. | am, Of course. not
speaking against good publications,
but bad publications. Go to almost
any bookstand that you see and open
some Of the books at random and read.
There we ana the authors make their
heroes out Of bad men and their hero
ines out Of bad women. with here and
~ tr Tn an ~