Arizona republican., 1914-05-29
JUST DRIFTING"

In the many stories of naned lives and broken hopes which just now are being poured out flVm that most terrible of all realiss the divorce court few episodes have seemed to us more striking than that of the unhappy wife who wrote that she hau just drfted' into wrong. It is so typical ot pur neurotic Men, and together in marriage. urged either by a passing fancy. UT " q desire increase their worldly goods Some in love with love. with the world. and with another
 To all those upon whom has Jcscend,d that great love which is gcn.us. but which all of us have hoped at time or th" other experience. d day when tb" mystery has grown commonplace. If that happens before passion has been buttressed bA affection, anu love by mt- tual respect, there is danger oI total wreck. lt is mid channel in married fife and to pass 1t safely there needed that devotion to an oVermlsteing duty which in our day seems to burn with q flame grow ing ever more and more dim So nianF oi rS have the power. because We have lost the taith 10 keep hold of the stern ideals of a no'ler day, ideals So they just drift"
 They just drift because the note of our time is the search for individual happiness. that wili-o tbe- vsp which yet seized by those who devoted themselves the quest In drifting they touch other lives which seem to them to offer the certainty O this strange elusive thing. It may be wealth or passion. . adventure which they appear to hold and hardly knowing what they do they snatch tine promise only to lind that they have made shipwrcck of their lives There gre great passions which transcend all human litws and which sweep away the soul in torrent against which the strongest cannot swim
 Sometimes in the sordid records ci the di- vorce court we catch glimpses of this tremendous force but presence in lives is far more often ina gined than true. There many WHO are just drifting in placid stream which they could easily breast they would, but which, if they choose tf. easy part draws them at last to the Inevitable cataract They want to be happy and they nave TOT gotten that happiness never be sefsh out De- gins and ends with dut..
 There are dreadful mistakes in marriage. some of them bad that there is nothing for Il DGt to break the intoerabe bond. But in many unions which men and women have held Impossible happi- ness would have come if only they had determined to make the and the worst of their mistake
 The saddest part of all this drifting IS the misery it brings upon other lives and hoines. Ihe tronJcn of marriage is the child and to those Wh" understand the stories the divorce court are in expressibly sad Those who have brought other oe- ings into this sorry world bound by every law oe God feed not only their bodies but theii souls. Rightly regarded all these questions of maintenance. custody. and so forth. which dalN come before the court. but the lowest oI tiie obligations we have assumed
 The father whom the mother dare not teach the child respect and initiate the mother Whoss name may not be mentioned in the home-these are tn" people who have lost all that makes life worth ilNng. sin than the sin against the child is tbere To make Of these little ones to offend seemed the highest authority that has spoken on earth thing be blasted with the lightnings of the fercest censure he uttered. Sorely do we need to be recalled to the duty to the child Once let that he felt and understood. and just drifting becomes thing and dare not do - London Globe.