The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-06-28

Marriage, as we see 1t illustrated
in everyday life, is centrally a fail
ure. ..-..
1t brings happiness to the very few,
misery aud disenchantment to the
many.
It is dull plain Of dreary monot'
opy, stretching from the altar to the
grave, on which love yawns itself to
death as soon as the honeymoon is
over. .....
There is never the slightest diff
Guilty in picking out any married cou-
pie in a public assemblage.
If on the street you see man walk
ing about two feet ahead Of his wife
and letting her drag along as best she
may over the crossings, you know the
woman is his wife. ..H. ....
If at the theatre you see couple
sitting up between the acts in frozen
silence, or reading the jokes in the
back Of the programme, you know
they are husband and wife.
If you hear a woman tell q story
and man sarcastically observes that
be heard that anecdote in the Ark
during the Flood, you know the gen.
tleman is the lady's husband.
If you see couple treat each other
with an absolute disregard Of every
canon of decent social intercourse, you
do not have to be Sherlock Holmes
to deduce the fact that they are mar.
red.
Now, nobody marries to achieve
this kind Of fate. Every youth and
maiden believe that the wedding ring
is the circle that bounds paradise, and
when they marry they expect to be
perfectly happy.
They see that other married people
are bored and weary and disgruntled,
but that does not deter them from
taking the fatal step, for marriage
may be best described as the final
triumph of. hope over other people
experience.
The most terrible thing in the world
is the establishment. Of matrimony.
and that the tie which is the closest
and the holiest bond that can be forg-
ed between two human beings, in the
majority of cases, becomes merely a
ball and chain that fetters them to-
gether like prisoners, aud that you
can hear clank as they walk.
Why is it that man and woman
who have sacrificed everything for the
privilege of each others society begin
to cape in each others faces the min
ute they find themselves vis-a-vis
d across their own hearthstone?
i If marriages were arranged by the
4 parents, as in Europe, or if people
d generally married for money or posi-
ton, one could understand why mat
a Emony from the point Of view cf
y promoting happiness is so often fail.
"a ure. :s .hs -
s Marriages, however, in this ooun-
IA try at least, are almost universally
Il love matches and tits cynical COM
& mentary on the brevity of affection
that the country that leads the world
"a in love matches also leads the world
e in the number Of divorces.
H But it is not Of divorce I would
@ speak here. .'s. ..,;..;
~ The aoutely miserable marriage gem
# orally finds its own cure. ::::sz :.5
@ The average married couples suf-
| feringe are not active. s:,5E !, /, !.
E They are merely the dull ache Of
IS Disappointment, Of a romance that
s@ has turned to prose, Of an unsatisfed
Is longing for something they wanted
G and never got. .<s.:- 5S:.S 5,;@
W Yet these people were once in love
III with each other; they once idealised
each other; they once entrsnssd each
@ other. I s.s:;51 i Z 5s.. s 5i
IS They married in order that they
might spend their lives: together; and
IS the greatest problem Of civilization is
Hhy. when they started out with %
Wnuch material for happiness, they SO
soon came to bankruptcy. Is s5; u.
W 1t is easy TO say that the reason
lobody realizes 9 lover' 8 paradise is
rs because lovers expect too much. y
No couple could keep keyed up to
'he high G pitch of sentiment Of their
'urting days. s5Ss I.
No waman canremainf forever young
fnd beautiful, nor Gan any man really
njoy holding 8 lily-whits hand fJr
years at 8 stretch S3s5 3
1t II. .aats q blow TO 4 young
9aple 60 find ont that they have got
live ia = world that il full % bills,
ad cooks, and sickness and coliokly
.5 'oies, instead sff one shat is all
&Arlll8 and ksaness III, a,,s 81 ss 81 s,