Year: 1869

Custom tolerates this abomniablo social
evil, if it does not approve it, 1t can not
do less, when the lax state of public mo-
rality makes divorces even not only posi-
Nle, but easy of accomplishment. Mar
'iago by many is no longer regarded as a
aiyine institution, but simply an alliance
30 be entered into, and dissolved, at the
caprices of folly, lust, or convenience.


There are but few persons, comparative
ly, but that believe in the immortality of
she soul and that those who have gone
before us to the spirit land will be recog-
Hized, and hold the same relation to us
shon we meet them there that they did
SS,ere--therefore, to such, marriage is for
Ntes2'ty. a plurality OF wives or hus-
~ ndsSs tn, waptl to Coma, mast excite
The same horror which it does in all right
minded persons when such a state of
things is contemplated here. In this light
| view it, and | can not diyest the idea
from my mind that the contraction Of
more than one marriage by the same per-
son is no less than kind of polygamy.


How agonizing and terrible it must be
to devoted and tender wife when sepa-
rated from her partner in the halcyon
days of their welded life, after waiting
many long years in the spirit land for the
dear one left behind, to find perhaps two
or three later wives of her husband set to
her before his arrival; when lie at length
comes, to have her claim disputed, or at
least receive only a moiety of that love
which her priority should claim as a whole.
Aside from this there are other consider
ations connected with second marriages
which are not less repelling.


First, marriages arc usually contracted
when yauth, love and romance cement the
union with tenderness and sacredness
which no latter periods can approach. The
human heart pours out its best and purest
oblations upon first union, and all other
connections of the kind are in comparison
only ridiculous burlesques upon the insti-
tuition of marriage. The heart can never
yield but to one the divine glow which
dstils the true elixir of welded life
When this one is removed, the fountain is
dried up in this world, and no rod WELD
ed by a second love can again make it
flow with its original abundance and
sparkling purity.


How ridiculous, farcical, iniquitous,
then, are all marriages save the first How
abhorrent the bare idea of a connection of
this kind must be to all such as are bask-
,.iag in the,happy fruition of first union
TO think, for instance, at some future day,
that beloved wife Or husband may be re-
moved and others step into their places !;
at their boards other heads to preside; at
their iresdes new faces to smile or frown
upon them. The arms that embrace them
and the kisses they receive to be bestow-
ed upon mercenary and selfish interloper.


When death takes away beloved wife
or husband, the bereaved, instead of cast
ing their eyes around for one to ell the
place, should live on the memory of their
loved ones; look upon the aAliction as on
ly temporary; bear the lost one ever in
mind; shape every act as though their
eyes were upon them; and as they pro-
ceed onward, nearing the goal, their love
should be constantly increasing so as to
be fully prepared for that reunion which
will be final and eternal.