The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1910-04-29
CIVIL MARRIAGE.

| "NA~ns Ntth iAkhA ~Afh tAAN hi''a - f~sN
ing through the branches OF tie trees
From the little brightly inum.us.ei
church comes the sound OF organ sad
singing.
Marius is sitting At his dcs,, n lie
/ little cottage opposite the G area ana
in spite OF the wind and dri 4 os.
side he he's not closed ms wiL1oW ~
seems to him he needs storaa ~ sci
and the weather outs.3e q. I'LL vi.
| his state Of mind
He and Ingra;. vto IS a; Hrgs 81
Finren 10 learn housekeeping In !,
uncle's home SO tnat she asy kaoa
low to rake both ends meet aen rs
annual income Of 4.GG0 o1owas- lie
and Ingra have decided TO marry
They want a civil marriage t IL ra
! simple, so easy, SO human ana so le
! lightfully unconventional ana no e.n,
The quarrel with his motEer fath6r
sisters, aunts had been hard enough
| They had threatened to d;si4Ierit
| him and told him he ives en- The real
\ to perdition,
The father had ordered him to move
out Of the little cottage he had rentei
from him at bargain His mother
and sisters had come TO him without
| the angry fathers knowledge and hal
! implored him on their knees. The
aunts had weot and cried over the
telephone and in their letters.
But and-and Ingra's conyie-
| tion none Of them had been able to
shake, and in she end the family lad
had to give in.
We cannot take upon us the re-
sponsibility of driving MIN still farth-
er into the arms of crime the moth
! or had said 10 the father and tie
| father, VINO remembered how, In his
boyhood. he had stolen apples IN the
neighbor's garden and made faces at
an old woman, replied: 81 suppose 1t
is the unfortunate Inheritance from
] me. Let us save him by love and pa
tience."
In front of Marius, on the desk,
was the printed blank informing the
minister that he desired to leave the
1 state church. He himself had gone to
! the sexton to get 1t.
nj want to leave the state church"
he had said to the sexton and had
hoped to see an expression Of pain or
| sorrow come into the old mans face,
but instead this inferior material
! minded person had said to him with
his most amiable smile with the
greatest of pleasure, young man"
Then he had given him the blank
which was to be filed out and he
bowed him to the door as if the whole
thing was a common, everyday affair.
For the fifth time he picked up the
blank and read it over aloud.
AS he had done the other times, he
stopped when he had come to this
point, laid down the paper and,
thought: 81 wonder what these privi-
! leges may be /"
OF course. he did not know what
these privileges were, but to give
them up-f0r Ingra's sake, who was,
| after all, only Il woman and not as
firm in her convictions as he. He
had been Il free-thinker ever since The
! minister had confirmed him In that
| church-but women-they are more
more ehangeable than we men and he
must take that into consideration.
Nonsense Nonsensel Nonsense.
When Inga stood shoulder to shoulder
with him, she, too, would feel strong
Priyileges He looked sarcastically
toward the old church door After all,
one must let the people keep their re-
ligion. Religion has its value the peo-
pie must believe.
He picked up his pen, dipped IT en-
ergeticaliy in the ink-well, as a man
does when there If no reason why he
should hesitate and ran his eyes over
the paper: Il give up ALL
Just then cold gust Of wind struck
his face and he shiyered. He turned
around furious, picked up the pen
| blINf llO4t Win LleIhDlilS manu-, anu
while beads of cold perspiration came
on his forehead he wrote his name In
hand which looked strange and I'M
familiar to himself.
Now 1t is DONE" he said aloud and
thought at the same moment of a
schoolmate he had long ago forgotten.
| What was the matter with him? Oh
now he remembered--he had forged a
| note.
4 He placed the paper in an envelope,
wrote the address outside In large,
| impudent letters, blew out the lamp,
took his hat and went quickly outside.
A moment later he heard the letter
drop in the empty letter box on the
| corner of the road.
There was a policeman on the side
| walk, who stared at him. He wonder
ed II he knew already, Oh nonsense,
| II was no bomb, only a letter.
Nevertheless, he went towards the
| light In front of the church door. He
stopped and looked in. How amusl9e
it was to look at these people fhe
tramp was inside listening to the SER