The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-05
WAR AND MARRIAGES.


 up there. They declare that there have been no less than 2.700 such cases in that city during the past three months. That, as all must ad- init. is a decidedly bad showing. and it is not to be wondered at that the good women are concerned over the situation. and want something done about it.
 When a man enlists in the army" remarks a contemporary. in com menting on this Cincinnati showing, and swears to render true and faith ful service to his country, 1t is con- sidered a pretty serious thing for him to break his oath and desert. If in time of peace he is subject to long imprisonment; if in time of war he Is shot at sight or capture. But Is not the state of matrimony as important | as the civil state? Is it not as serious thing for a man to desert his wife | and perchance his children as it Is to desert his country's service in time of war? Then let the army deserter off with Imprisonment if deemed best, but shoot the wife-deserter at sight or sooner.
 This is the proposition of the wo- men of Cincinnati. It will not be rap idly adopted. but it is worth thinking of. There are some who maintain that they think matrimony is worse than war. If they would be logical to their belief and keep out of it. possibly. Perhaps the only way to make them do so is to make shooting the proper punishment for wife-d tion. In the last analysis. most wife assertions deserve it"
 In some respects there is much of similarity between the two situations Many man-sometimes a mere boy knowledge of what he is doing, or of the duties and responsibilities he is assuming. He hears and reads of the deeds of yalor performed by heroes in war and wants to initiate them. He sees the tinsel and show. and hears the blare and roar of a soldiers life and thinks it is "all beer and skittles." or something equally pleas ant. Then. when all the romance and glamour have worn off. and he real izes the hardships and privations of life in the army his dream of glory comes to an end. He wants to get out of it, and if he can't do it any other way he makes a sneak, as the saying Is.
 Sometimes, too. the man Is mistak- en as to the extent of his own physi- cal courage. Reading about mounting over breastworks, or charging the enemy, or standing firm amid 8 storm of shot and shell is all very pleasant and inspiring. especially to the young. Hearing the blare of trumpets and the rattle of drums Is all very entic- ing, but the reality of army life and war are quite different. When it comes to living on poor O: insufficient rations, or standing on post in rain and cold he thinks of the good meals. warm beds and bright fires at home. When it comes to standing up while bullets are whistling about his ears and comrades falling about him. he feels like getting Into a hole, and when he is ordered to charge a bat tery he much prefers to charge in the other direction. A mans ideas of real courage do not always hold good when the test comes, and thus 1t Is that he sometimes deserts in the face of the enemy and is court-martiailed and shot. So the dreams of glory sometimes end.
 Something of the same kind is true of marriage. beyond a doubt. People enter into the bonds of wedlock in many cases without either of the par ties knowing much of the other and without knowing or trying to know If they are in any respect fitted to form life partnership. Too often 1t happens that the glamour of matri- mony is soon dispelled and both sides find too late that they were mistaken. They discover to their sorrow, and sometimes to their surprise, that mar ried life Is not always one long era of uninterrupted connubial bliss. Per haps they separate by mutual consent; sometimes one deserts the other, and perhaps in many cases, in the words of the poet
 Wishing each other. not divorced. but
 dead,
 They live respectfully as man and
 wife.
 All this does not in any degree ex- cuse or condone the many cases of wife desertion of which we are hear ing. A marriage contract Is one of the most solemn of all earthly trans- actions and should be among the most hinding. It should not be entered in- to lightly or without due reflection and consideration, but when man