Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1911-08-11
AN UNHOLY ALLIANCE.


sibilities, his conception Of the eter
nal fitness of things, rebels at thC
announcement of the coming marriage
of Col. John Jacob Astor age AZ, tC
Miss Madeline Talmage Force, age
is. Astor has but recently been di.
vorced by his first wife, the mother
of his two children, his own son, Vim
cent, being year older than the girl
whom his father is to marry. The
announcement Of the engagement and
the coming marriage, the date for
which has been named by Astor him
self as October Is, has aroused a
storm of protest among the Episcopal
clergy throuhgout the country, who
declare to a man, that the banns are
without the pale Of the church and in
opposition to decency and morality.
1t is also declared that it will be inn
possible to find a clergyman Of the
faith who will perform the ceremo-
ny, unless it can be shown that Astor
was the innocent party in the divorce
proceedings, and that the separation
resulted from unfaithfulness on the
part of his former wife. AS no such
claim has ever been made, il appears
probable, that if the clergy does not
recede from its position, that Astor
and his school girl fiance will have to
seek elsewhere for an officiating min
lister.
1t may not be the public's bust
ness, this coming mating of Winter
with Spring, and the wedding will
probably be consummated regardless
Of what the public thinks, but one
cannot refrain from ivoicing his dis
gust in the premises. Longing for
yachts, box at the opera, the dizzy
heights of the social whirl and travel
and conquest in foreign lands, the
poor, weak girl, abetted by her supine
parents, is preparing to mate with
man old enough to be her father, and
all because that man is the possessor
of wealth and al1luence. 1t can be
nothing else No emotion of love can
sway her heart strings and, if she is
constructed of ordinary human clay,
she must, in the inmost cloister of her
soul shudder when she contemplates
her coming marriage. But she reso-
lutely puts aside all thoughts of her
better self and believes that the rich
mans money bags will heal the hurt,
and encompass all that the world
holds in happiness and contentment.
She is selling herself for glittering
gold and her parents are, il is said,
congratulating themselves upon the
alliance she is making.
For shame. Shame for the girl and
shame for her elders who, with their
knowledge of the world and its ways,
familiar as they must be with the long
list of unhappy marriages of the past,
none of which, however, presents so
wide a barrier in age as that which
their daughter will enter into, cannot
see that there can be but one possible
outcome for mis-mating of this ma
ture, unhappiness, disgrace and So
cial death.
But all that is forgotten. The no
bier impulses of the heart are tramp |
led under foot, tradition and custom
are overthrown and all for the love
of wealth which, in their estimation,
marks the alpha and omega Of life.
Ii is a disgusting, unholy mess, as the
clergymen have said, and it is to be
hoped that they will adhere to their
statements aud refuse to ofliciate at
these nuptials, at this desecration of
the purest VOWS which men and wo-
men may take, at this farcical at
famnt IN mata Youth with A 0e with /
gold as the prize. Astor and his mill
lions have long been a stencil in the
nostrils of honorable and upright
people, and this last step that he
proposes is only in line with his other
affairs.
He is Disgrace to the citizenship
of the country. He has never per-
formed single act for the good of
the country, and his money has been
used solely for his own pleasure, and
now il will be spent in buying the
self-respect of weak-minded girl,
dazzled by the glitter which she
thinks means all that is desirable in
life.
II the head Of the house of Astor
desires 70 make fool of himself. he
should by all means be permitted TO
do so. and the sooner he sinks into
oblivion the better. but he should not
be allowed 10 drag a young girl down
TO his level. even If she herself and
her silly parents know no better than
10 assist at the sacrifice.