Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-08-23


moonlight nights, and a long fowery
pathway. Intimacy is death on romance,
and every day life tears illusions 10
tatters. No woman can ever again be .
dream maiden TO the man who has seen
her with her curl papers on, and her COM
plexion off frying griddIe cakes for break
fast. Nor can any man ever again seem
the hero Of her girIish dreams 70, the
woman who has beheld him unshAVen,
and unshorn, snoring with bis mouth
open.
Each may come TO esteem the other
for the sterling qualities that are worth
all the silver plated romance IN the
world, but there is no gainsayng that
marriage puts an end 10 romance. You
do not palpitate and thrill at the sound
OF footstep that you hear every day of
your life, nor is there any favor IN the
kisses that one must give and receive
because il is ones duty 70.
Marriage is failure 30 far as recurring
the individual happiness OF the ma
jority Of people who enter u IN tho
fatuous relief that II is sort OF paradise
regained. In this country one out oi
every twelve marriages - q confessed
failure that terminates in divorce. With
how many other people marriage n
simply misery endurance test we can
not even surInise. :.
/ That an enormous percentages OF
marriages bring only wTetchedness, ws
know from our own observation. Ne
could count on our fingers, and still have
digjts to spare, the married couples VIC
know who have really found their
! mates, and to whom marriage has
brought the deep and abiding happiness
| that we all hope for when we embark O
| the great adventure.
! There are no scales delicate enough ~
.. weigh human joy and sorrow, but il ono
NAV Judge by the fact that the unmarried
are nearly always jolEer and more cheer
4 full than the married, that they look
n Younger for their age and show less of
. The wear and tear Of life, then one may
:, hazard the CONCLUSION that old maids and
old bachelors are, in the aggregate,
= happier than their married sisters and
n brothers.
, But whatever else rnatrimony may do
q TO people il makes them better men and
q women, for marriage Is the great
i character builder II is the great en-
10 liahtener. 1t is the great disciplinarian
! No two people can live together 10 the
70 close relationship of marriage, without
y learning to think of someone besde.
" themselves, without being obliged tc
: make sacrifices of which they would
have believed themselves incapable. Ths
N very necessities Of daily life force z
20 perpetual suppression Of the lndlvidua
.lf ego.
90 The man who has spent his noDey OF
his own self indulgence must spenS
it when he is married on supporting 81
n family. The selfish girl who has ha'
II no thought beyond adornIng her owl
II beauty, must forget her looks and toI
II to make a comfortable home Tor ne
II husband and children
II When selhshness meets selhshness, a
II il so often does in marriage, and uncor
II trolled tempers clash, there is q battl
- royal. but it leaves both of the com
=. batants chastened as they never woul
=. have been outside of matrImony. 70
~ no other human being dares say 70 U
2 the things that our husbands and wIve
=. say. That is why, when we have bee
~ fiayed alive with nercliess lash OF on
~ shortcomings, we say we have been rol
~ home truths
ttnu Marriage is also. the beginning OF WI
nc dom. Ii is a post-graduate course IN III
~ and the HONEYMOON will teach any man
&c OF woman more about the peculiarltles {
y human nature than a ten years course
~ psychology in any university vii. Ii
" only the married who know how bad al
90 the best, and how good are the worst {
US, and how lovable are the faulty, an
~ how hard to endure are the MODEL hu
- bands and wives
It is only married man who know
that the woman who screams with fei
'pS at mouse will walk up and look deaf
IN in the eve without q tremor, ana th'
as love can make frail little woman g
hs' up from her silken couch Of ease and tai
in washing to support sick husbar
without q whimper at fate. And II
ooe only married woman who know why
"a woman Will sometimes mourn husoar
ue' who was a drunken, ne 'er-do-wt
u through long years OF widowhood, VIII
sNj the wife OF a man who was leadlI
te ten citizen and a paragon or the virtue
e has to pull down her veil TO hide q
W relief in her face at his funeral
Marriage teaches us diplomacy Tor '
oi1e must acquire the nimble art OF waikiki
, v on eggs il we are TO avoid treading up,
2 the delicate sensibilities OF the partns
sNe of our bosoms. II teaches US to bear a.
can forbear, and gives US the strength
endure, and fight the good hght.
~ So marriage is a success IN lifting US
seu; higher levels, and If, as general thu
anu il is failure in promoting our happins
here below, it adds large kohinoors
our Heavenly crowns.
Marriage IS q great hfe-f you dol
weaken.