The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1919-12-09
WEDDING RINGS FOR MEN
Shall They Be Compulsory :
washington Times.)


don's women police, suggests that it
should be compulsory for every mar
ried man to wear a wedding ring"
A good idea, if man should wear
any jewelry at all, which is doubtful.
If the woman half Of the marriage
contract is TO be obliged to wear al
ways the badge of her partnership,
then the husband should be required
to wear one twice as large and ten
times as prominent.
But why require either of them to
advertise their marriage state?
If all that holds a married man or
woman to terms of their mutual
agreement is band of metal and all
that refrains them from breaking the
vows they have made each to the
other is ten-dollar bauble, then that
particular couple never should. have
married, or, having made the mistake,
should correct it as soon as the courts
will provide the means.
The wedding ring as an insignia Of
marriage is a rule Of barbarism. It
is the direct descendant of the Gus
tom Of getting wife by purchase.
The first method was, of course, the
cave mans. He fought and won a
battle and wife by the same efforts.
Then some intellect in advance of
its times decided that ,buying>a wife
was better than killing a man to get
her, and the custom was later improv-
ed by giving the bride some portion Of
the purchase price, and as this was
usually paid in goods rather than
money, and metal was the most valu-
able thing of those days, the we'd
ding ring found its way into exist
ence.
The "best man" in modern times
takes the place of the man who ac-
companied the fighting bridegroom in
the earlier times and was the umpire
in the financial negotiations of the
later period.
In olden times it was customary
in the ceremony to put the wedding
ring first on the end of the thumb,
then on the first finger, then on the
second, naming the Trinity, and last
ly it was put on the third finger to
signify that next to God the wife's
duty was to her husband.
But if the wedding ring is to be
only badge of obligation there are
forty reasons for mans wearing 1t
to one for a woman. And it should
be generously large and prominent
ly displayed.
One other wedding ring point. The
lady policeman of London probably |
thinks married mer should wcar we'd
ding rings as a warning to guilcless
young females.
Married men are sometimes deceit
full. With all ten fingers free, they
90 about seeking whom they may de-
If man wore his wedding
ring, the young lady would look for
that before looking for his soft |
brown eyes. She would see the ring
and say to herself, "He's married,
nothing there for me-" and go about
her business.
Unfortunately the wrong kind of
4 man would take off the ring and put
Il in his pocket in emergencies. The
only plan would be to have some mark
IF marriage that could not be remov-
ID. Some women in South Africa
nave a couple of front teeth knocked
out by the husband on the wedding
lay. The woman puts the back OF
her head against a tree and the hus-
band knocks out the front teeth with
4 wedge and a stone. Anyone knows
the is married, for there are no den
fists there to make folse teeth.
Other women, when they are mar
lied, have marks tattooed on their
faces. That might be tried on mar
lied men to keep them from misrep-
their condition. But what
about the widower? 1t would be hard
IN him, if he could not get out the
,attoo marks and went around under
cloud of suspicion whenever he tried
@ make himself pleasing.
On the whole, perhaps, the best
a; scheme is TO let things drift along as
hey are, contend to know that we
ire all getting better all the time,
wen If we do improve slowly.
HAS LIVED 1871 YEARS