The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-08-27

inferred.
I thank God that my lot was cast
in a State where there is no such
thing as divorce. To get married in
South Carolina is the easiest thing
imaginable. To get unmarried" is
impossible. "Once married, always
married." Is the rule. Literally and
exactly we believe that 'for better or
for worse, in poverty and in wealth,
in sickness and in health, till death
do them part" they twain are one.
1t is true that, if life together be-
comes unbearable, a man and wife
may separate and live apart; but
even then the bonds that bind them
are only stretched, not legally brok-
en-. In South Carolina we tie mat
rimonal knot that battles alike the
skill Of legal logic, the dexterity of
sophistry, the nimble fingers Of a
false expediency and the brute
strength of a statute. The knot we
tie holds faster than the fabled
"Gordian Knot" of antiquity. Inge-
nuity can not unfasten nor force de-
stroy it. The skeleton fingers Of
death alone can loose it.
Not the South Carolina Way.
We in South Carolina do not be-
lieve In the modern idea so prevalent
in this day and time of permitting a
man to marry a woman in her youth
and beauty, and then, when her : Hck
begins to grow skinny and shrunken,
her face sallow and splotched, and
her eyes dim, to search out among
his women acquaintances some young
and buxom girl who suits his lustful
eyes better and straightway set to
work Systematically to treat his old
wife so that she, in self-defence and
to maintain her self-respect, seeks a
divorce to get rid of him. There
have been glaring cases Of this kind
o. worldwide notoriety wherever the
divorce evil fourishes.
When we contrast this type OF
man and woman with the glorious
picture drawn by Burns, these men
who have souls are bound to recoil
from the one type and bow down and
worship the other. Lest you have
forgotten the verses 1 will recite
them for you:
John Anderson, my 10, John,
When we were first acquent,
Your locks were like the raven,
Your bonie brow was brent;
But now your brow is beld, John,
Your locks are like the snaw,
But blessings on your frosty pow,
John Anderson, my 10.
John Anderson, my jo, John,
We clamb the hill thegither,
And monte a cantie day, John,
We've had wi'ane anither;
Now we maun totter down, John,
And hand in hand We'll go,
And sleep thegither at +he foot,
John Anderson, my jo!"
This song, one Of Robert Burns
best, is the very apothesis of married
life among the virtuous and goot
people of the world.
In thinking about the widespread
unprogressive character Of the di
vorce evil, like all thoughtful men,
have been led to consider the cause
of it and the great Decentralization
which has followed it. The law o.
sexuality is the most powerful law II
nature, and it is the wise provision o:
the good God who created us with i
to compel reproduction, the perpetu
alton of the race. Whever the mar
riage bond is regarded as a sacred
one, women are usually virtuous, ant
yirtuous women always make virtu
GUS men, just as good mothers raise
up brave and noble sons. AS long a!
Rome had women of the type of Vir
ginia and Lucretia, the Romans con
Quered all their neighbors and al
other nations in Europe. When the
women grew to be loose in their vir
tue, and lost it altogether In man!
cases, and the women to be Of tht
type Of Nero's mother, who commit
ed incest with her own son, as the
historians tell us, Rome rapidly de
cayed and ceased to be mistress o.
the world. Therefore, it can be safe
ly claimed that civilization itself j:
dependent on good women, and b!
good women I. do not mean onl!
amiable women; 7 mean virtuous wo
men.
This State Unique.
The divorce evil does not directl.
affect South Carolina; but our Stat'
is the only one that does not permi
divorce in some form. North Caro-
lima and Georgia, States on our Dor
ders, both grant them, and on in
creasingly trivial grounds, if repor
be true. My State is lonely islt
surrounded on all sides by turbic
flood Of raging, maddened waters
and lest We too be submerged,
would see the waters subside and thu
dry land appear, and under the bless
ed rays of Gods moral sunshine
would behold once again over oul
whole country the fruits and flower:
Of domestic peace, love and affection
confidence, JOY and contentment.
beg Senator's pardon for having
digressed. But as I was going on tt
say, statistics on the number Of di
vorces granted in States where wo
men have the vote would be very val
liable. 1t would enable us to see the
connection between woman suffrag
and family life. 1t appears to me
that the relation between "votes fol
women" and divorce. if not one O.
cause and effect, Is at least one o.