The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-05-22
WORLD

can AN count M on the fingers OF one
band the women we have known thai
have actually reformed men, but IL
would take a patent AIDING machine 10
=uunerate all the ones We knoW Wfo
have wrecked the.- lives trying 10 DO
it, and if there is any way by which
the government can protect women
from making fool matches for Heaven
s be let's have it,
The young man who narIies s sickly
girl makes an equally fatal mistake
When 81 warm hel ed and generous
young fellow falls in love with an
ethereal looking Young creature her
very le.!caCy gives her an added charm.
E- rjetu~es himself chiEa.ro1sly pro-
telttur and oheTlshlng her, ana keeping
the very wind from blowing coldly upon
ner. and thus winning the roses back
to- her cheeks Ike the hero does in 2
Laura Jean Libby novel, ana ne goes
and rarries her on that romantic hypo-
thesis DO YOU suppose that II ne had
any conception of what having an in
raId wife means &c q man he would
90 80 Not or your life. If he rs =
poor man il means that he spends MS
days toililg 10 pay drug bills and doc-
tors bills Whether he is rich or poo
il means that he goes home at night 70
an iG-kert house to darkened rooms
10 humorirG q sick persons whims, 10
guerulous complaints. and mysteries,
and nerves There is no martyr in all
the calendar Of saints more deserving
O. our reverence and alteration thaA
the husband who bears patiently with
am invalid wife, but any man who Is
kept from getting himself into such
scTape as marrying a delicate woman
ought to erect q monument 10 the per
son who saved his life.
n
marriage. though there Is no reason
why il should stop at a health quail
6cation. There are other things.
There's the financial side. Wealth
isn't necessary TO a happy marriage,
but a suhiciency IS. You can't love
properly on an empty stomach. and II
is just a plain simple business propo-
sition that people ought not TO be per-
mitted to marry unless between them
they have enough money. or some set
tied occupation, by which they can sup
port d family. When We talk about
marriage we say that love is enough.
whereas the truth IS that very little Of
Us ia heart and the balance Of US is
stomach that has TO be fed, and body
that has 10 be clothed. In realty. we
can do without love easier than We can
co without ANYTHING else, and this be-
ing the case when the marriage laws
are amended. a good. strong financial
plank ought 10 be inserted ia them.
Then there is sujta bility. The states
right to actually pick out a mans wife
for him would be pushing paternalism
in government TOO far, but just as for
his own safety, and the good Of others
The law doesn't permit a color blind
man 10 run a locomotive. or a deaf
one TO be a policeman, so it ought not
TO permit a dOty old man to pick out
a debutaute for a wife. or the widow
er with many children TO marry a
girl younger than his own daughter,
or a rich old woman to buy a boy hus-
band An active. energetic. matrimon-
ial commission. with a power TO en-
force its veto, is a crying need i'll every
community. II might do a lot Of good.
and al the worst. il couldn't make
more unsuitable selections than most
people do for themselves
Unfortunately. though the state regu-
lation Of marriage is Utopian
scheme that we shall never see really
ed. Cupid laughs at obstacles. and
fears neither disease nor death Love
is amendable to no law, and as long
as men are men and women are wom-
en-, they viii marry when. and how.
and whom they please.
And the divorce courts viii be kept
busy trying TO sort out the insists
Dorothy Dix