El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-20

TYALF dozen people. men and
RI women. none of whom had found
II - happiness in wedlock, were dis
GUESSING the other day the why and
wherefore of marriage being so often
a failure.
"Au of u.s." said one of the men,
have had our experiences. Doubtless
we have all made mistakes, but if we
had to go back and live our married
lives over again, il we were in the
same situation, and the same problem
confronted us, how would we act?
What wisdom have we acquired"
Not TO marry at ALL replied an
other man cynically. Play celibacy
straight across the board to win.
That's the only tip on how to be happy.
though married, that is worth cent"
"Ah," breathed a woman. but mat
rimony is the only game in the world
in which the burnt child doesn't dread
the firei The minute death or the di-
vorce court mercifully relieves man
or woman of a disagreeable wife or
husband, the rescued party immediate
" plunges back into trouble by get
ting married again."
That's true" observed the second
woman, when / have observed how
brutes of husbands and shrews OF
wives seem to live forever Just to tor
ture the good and lovely women and
men they are married to. 1 always ac-
count for it on the ground that Provi-
dence has got discouraged at try
ing to take care of peoples matrimo
Nal affairs. I can imagine the angel
who has such matters in charge draw
ing a sigh and saying. oh. what's the
use If 1 take off that woman's hus-
band with cute little attack of ap-
pendicitis, she will be fool enough to
marry the first man that asks her, or
1t won't do a bit of good to run over
that woman with an automobile for
her husband will marry again in six
months some other woman who will
henpeck him as badly as she does. and
he would be just as miserable.
Well" commented the third man,
"aIl THAI 1 can say is that II matches
are made In the other world, the fac
tory is located in the birthstone terri
tory.v
"The one piece of wisdom that we
all bring out of our matrimonial ship
wreck" said the second woman, lis to
avoid putting to sea with the shipmate
we did"
"Ahw exclaimed the first man. but
that is precisely the point I wish 10
make Suppose that we did have to
put out to sea with the same SnlpnaIer
suppose all the conditions were ex-
actIy the same, except that we had the
experience that we have now, how
would we navigate the matrimonial
craft so as to keep 1t from going on
the rocks? Could we prevent the catas-
trophe?"
God knows" said one Of the wo-
men, drearily.
YES, He knows-and perhaps we
know also wherein we made our mis-
takes, wherein we were to blame. for
the fault is ours. too. in some degree.
No man and no woman is ever wholly
to blame for a marriage being a fail
ure In some way every husband and
every wife is responsible for the others
sin.
For myself, I know that never sit
down before my own desolated hearth
stone without putting dust and ashes
on my head, and feeling that I did my
part in wrecking our home. I did 1t
ignorantly, Fundamentally, blunder-
ingly, but I did ii in part. and 1 be-
lieve that If I had my married life to
live over again, I could make it
success instead of the CHASTITY tragedy
it has been.
Il married young girl who was
beautiful. gay. vivacious. fond of pleas