The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-02-26
EUGEN|C MARRIAGES
How the Ceremony May Have
t. be Performed When the
Law has Been
Perfected.

Here is new form of marriage
ceremony suggested for use when
the Eugenic laws become strictly
operative in all states.
The scene is of course laid in the
brides parlor where festooned flow
ers burden the air with their sweet
fragrance and maiden hair ferns
intertwine numerous volumes of sci
entific research, placed within easy
reach of the officiating clergyman;
who, standing in the centre of the
room begins as follows
Dearly beloved, we are gathered
together here in the face of this com,
pany to join together this man and
this woman in asceptic matrimony,
which is commended by Mendel,
Ehrlich, Metchulkoff and other eu-
genists to be honorable among men.
and therefore is not to be entered into
unadvisedly Or carelessly or without
due surgical precautions, but rever-
emily, clearly. sterilely, soberly and
with the nearest practicable ap
proach to chemical purity. Into
this holy and noninfectious state
these two persons present come now
to be joined and quarantined. If
any man can show just cause, either
clinlcally Or microscopically, why
they may not be safely surtured to-
gether, let him now come forward
with his slides and cultures, or else
hereafter forever hold his peace.
(Several spectators shuttle their
feet and an old maid giggles, but no
one comes forward.)
Clergyman Ito the bride and BRIDE
groom:
I require and charge both of you
as We will answer in the dreadful
hour of autopsy, when the secrets of
all lives shall be disclosed, that if
either of you know of any lesion,
infection, malaise, congenital defect,
hereditary faint or other impeachment
why, We may not be lawfully joined
together in eugenic matrimony We
do now confess it. For be well as
sured that If any persons are joined
together otherwise than In state of
absolute chemical and bacterlologi-
cal innocence, their marriage will be
sceptic, unhygienic, pathogenic and
toxic, and eugenically null and void.
(The bridegroom hands over a
long envelope, from which the cler-
gyman extracts a paper bearing
large seal.)
Clergyman (reading):
We, and each of us, having sub
jected the bearer, John Doe to a
rigid physical and microscopical ex-
animation, in accordance with the
form BIB of the American Eugenic
Association, do hereby certify that
he is free from all disease, faint, de-
feet. deformity and hereditary blem-
ish, and that, to the best of our
knowledge and belief, he is perfectly
sound in wind and limb. Temper
ature, 9S.6; pulse rs; Respiration, 81.
Sgmund Kraus, M. D.
John Jones, M. ID.
Rudolph Wasserman, M. D.
Ditto on the phychiatric side, so
far as l can see Herman H. Fink
M. d.
Subscribed and sworn before me,
justice of the peace for the bor-
ough of Manhattan, city of New
York, state of New York.
| Seal Abraham Lechotiskey, j. p.
(The clergyman drops papers into
boul of disinfectant and pro-
ceeds,)
Clergyman Ito the bridegroom:
John, wilt thou have this woman
to be thy welded wife, to live togeth-
er in the holy state of eugenic matri-
mony? Wilt thou love her, comfort
her, protect her from all protocol
and bacteria. and keep her in good
health; and, forsaking all others,
keep thee unto her only, so long as
ye be both shall live? If so hold
out your tongue.