THE MARRIAGE QUESTION

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2148, 14 June 1889, Page 2

THE MARRIAGE QUESTION

The unseemly discussion whloh a osrtaln class of newspapers nave been making a conspicuous feature ia their oolumns of late of the question, 'la marriage a failure? is limply a fceah breaking out of the old and natueoaa aociftl malady of 'free lore.! It la am* ng that any editor who hai either any regard for the rapatab lUj of his journal or any respeot for the welfare of aoolety should countenance the dlaoai* alon of ao grave a theme m the reokleti aud fl'ppmt style and manner In whloh It la treated by the ollbb of shallow and Iconoolastlo writer* who, In their anxiety to it their Immoral .sophistications, de< light to exhibit their contempt for. those things and Institution.* whloh reasonable and good men deem too stored to be at-> Bailable, The man or the woman who seriously asks the question, ' Is marriage a failure 2' is obviously disqualified, by lack of elthet virtuous or proper experieao?, or of Intel' llgeat or tbougtitfal ooavlotioai from an* swering or even dlsousslog the question at all, the very asking of It being almost proof positive that the on 9 asking it Is of the af« firmative way of thinking, and that he or she Is of that way of thinking because of experienoes, obnervitlons, or theories that are at leait superficial, but more probably the resultants of the Individual folj/ of viplousnesa of a depraved natqra. 4 married life that h.ai proved a failure be-. o^UHe th,e parties to the contract hare ba4 neither sanse enoagh, mataai forbearanoa enough, not morality enough to bo faith* ful to Its obligations, is not a just samplQ of tho marital institution, is not a fair illustration of modern domesticity, is not an exponent of the average family oondit tion of civilised society. It is.exceptioati and abnormal. A trae man and a true woman, entering into the relations of man and wife with m rational deliberation, with genuine affeotion, and with hugh and pura motives, da Dot find marriage a failure. Thay know what they are about before they enter into the intimate and sacred partnership, it is on their part not a matter of impulse! of emotion, of money, nor of passion, b'mt of mutual and reciprocal affeotion, and consummated by the die ates of reason and qf a thoughtful anticipation q£ all the poßslbilf ties ai^d all the qontingenolfta that are involved m the qolomn oonpaot^ Such ma'ches are made m heaven, ar^ heuyenly m their life-lqng oontihuaaot aqd extend beyond, this life into heivtn itself. Marriage Is a failure only when the man or woman Is a failure m his manhood or m her womanhood. It la never a failure when the man and the woman are true to themselves and to caoh other. It Is never a failure where true love and honor art the links of unity. It is never » fatlnra where good aetue and good principle lead to and control the relationship. It is very rarely a failure, m any event, where oblldren am its fruitage and the family -altar is the oentna'oj( its 4*Us eauotlfication, I, .; . „ . »•.,,.». '.£ Those who nneer and mook at marrtag* are not God'a people; th€y are not 'o* those who are the- best development of meddrn 6lvlll«»t(oD ; they a?e notliluMr^ tlona either of social morality or of somd sense. They are the froth and soum that - float and bubble upon the surface of aoolal life. They are people of unbrldlsd psaalons, aenaaal and selfish instinots, or shallow mlnda. They are not the many, bat the wild and teok'eia few, 4* » rat*, maftjige h fdt b«fc qu4^' ihjs revqrfla. Wileo it proyas a failure ft |% an exception to the rule, jast as Idiots oranka,. lanatlos tnd moral leperi are exoeptlooal developments! of hutttia -'tTa« «tIQU,-(Siehso«' ), ", * IT *