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THE SUNNY SOUTH.
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. . . THE • . .
SUNNY SOUTH
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Sonny South Publishing Co.
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Atlanta, Qa., Saturday,April 15,1899.
“Seeing Life.”
An observing writer says: It is becom
ing a sort of creed with the shallow-mind
ed, that “seeing life” is seeing its seamy
side, and that only. When a man has re
veled in the obscenities of the gutter, and
passed through a companionship with the
frivolous, the vulgar, and the unclean,
these pseudo-philosophers would have us
believe that his debasement is but a
trifling price to pay for the satisfaction
of “seeing life.” It is even assumed that
he who has not discovered that the ini
quities of this wicked old world are par
ticularly edifying, is ignorant and “slow.”
This is plainly false philosophy. Life,
human life, in all its activity, is merely
the outward expression of human thought
and feeling. Every deed, whether base
or noble, has had before it the impelling
impulse and the compelling purpose. In
its richest and highest manifestations, life
Is only full and complete when its activi
ties flow from the best thought and feel
ing. It is plainly folly/ then, to claim
that human depravity and human weak
ness, however stirring and pathetic their
manifestations, are all or even the great
er part of life. An understanding of the
inner spirit that guides a Lincoln or a
Gladstone would more than compensate
for total ignorance of the vacillation and
lack of purpose in the weak wills of our
frailer humanity. To grasp fully, if for
. but one brief hour, the far-reaching vis
ion and lofty imagination of a Plato, a
Beethoven, or a Tennyson, would be a
revelation of the heights and depths of
life which countless visits to the pesti
lence-breeding garrets, where shame and
folly vaunt their secrets, could never
equal.
The subjective results of continued look
ing into the pit of human misery and mis
fortune must be the narrowing of indi
vidual capability. Morbid fancies, diseas
ed imaginings, distorted perspectives are
its reward. He who sees , ife truly, who
gains what is best and most uplifting
from his living, is he who has strengthen
ed his soul by contemplation of the great,
the noble, and the true things which bless
our humanity. Life and health, mental,
moral, and physical, are the highest, the
ultimate reality of existence. The poet
who sees and prophesies the golden age
to come is, after all, a higher type of
man than the medical student who spends
all his time in the haunts of disease.
Rules in Case of Fire.
Chief Bonner, of the New York lire de
partment, has issued some rules in regard
to the best course to be pursued by per
sons in hotels when an alarm of fire is
given. Of course they rest upon long
experience. They suggest thans of action
that would not readily occur to those
who had given no special thought to the
subject, and this probably includes a
majority of people. The chief advises
a guest who is suddenly alarmed by fire
In a hotel to keep his door closed and to
be careful that the transom also is shut.
Then go as quickly as possible to the
outside means of escape. Of course this
presumes an acquaintance with the loca
tion of fire escapes, and this knowledge
ought to be obtained as soon as a room
is assigned. Safety requires an inspec
tion of the hallways and stairways. Fire
escapes should be so clearly located that
they could be foundjn the dark. It may
be necessary to try the halls. In that
case it is best to stoop low to escape the
smoke and heat, and the person decend-
ing the staircase should move near the
wall.
A rope in a room is considered good
enough by Chief Bonner if a person
knows how to take a half turn around
the leg and slide down slowly, using the
foot as a brake. He advises against any
attempt to go down hand under hand.
The person on the rope should not look
down lest dizziness ensue. If the flames
are advanced and no escape possible the
best plan is to hang from the window
sill and wait for the firemen. When the
door and transom of the room are closed
the chance of rescue are good if the
strength holds out. The chief says in
conclusion that it takes a swift fire to
beat the race of firemen to rescue any
person hanging from the window sill.
Nevertheless, his remarks emphasize the
desire for fireproof buildings and an
abundance of fire escapes, easy of access
and easy to descend.
The High Tide of Specnlation.
Some one of our confreres observes in a
forceful manner that one of the evils of
the general prosperity that largely in
creases all legitimate, values is the tide
of reckless speculation that ever follows
such financial conditions, and at no time
in all the history of the past was this
evil more conspicuously presented than it
is today.
We do not speak of substantial values
such as certain Interest and dividend
paying bonds and stocks. Most of them
have not yet reached as high a point as
they probably will reach before the close
of the year. The present value of money
is little more than half what it was
score of years ago, and certain securities
which pay 4 per cent are now considered
profitable investments for money.
The reason why the best securities have
not yet reached the highest point is in
the fact that millions of capital are now
devoted wholly to speculation in securi
ties which, as a rule, are without either
present or prospective actual value.
There are millions of money now being
made out of what is practically nothing.
The present rage is for industrial corpor
ations, and little more than a shoe-string
is needed to organize a company with a
capital of millions and float it on the
market. The shares are not bought be
cause anybody supposes they are valua
ble, but because it is believed that they
will be forced by interested speculators
to largely increased prices, and all expect
to take their profits and get out before
the crash comes.
There are a score or more of industrial
companies with their shares now on the
market, and selling up in the thousands
of shares each day, which have hardly
the semblance of a basis of substantial
value, but the speculation-stricken multi
tude rush for the shares, hoping to make
a profitable turn and leave the crash to
fall upon those who succeed them as
shareholders.
Any industrial corporation that has not
been organized on the sound basis of full
paid-up stock, and that has not an estab
lished business, exhibiting profits equal
to a fair return on the capital invested
should be carefully avoided by all who do
not wish to lose their money. It is possi
ble for them to buy these worthless
stocks and get out with a profit before
the revulsion comes, but all such revul
sions come as suddenly and unexpectedly
as a thunder-clap from an unclouded sky,
and when they come, the shares held by
the rash investors soon become absolute
ly valueless.
There are a number of companies on
the market today whose shares sell up to
an aggregate of millions of capital which
are not earning a dollar, and most of
which wiir never earn profit. Now and
then one may chance to succeed, but it
is reasonable to assume that there is not
one in a dozen of these purely speculative
industrial corporations that will not in
the end cost the shareholders just about
all the money they have invested in it.
In point of fact, they are not expected
by the projectors to earn money or to pay
dividends. They are organized to make
millions out of nothing, expecting that the
high tide of speculation will enable them
to sell the shares and to manipulate them
on the market. Sooner or later, and soon
at the latest, some of the wildest of them I
will vanish like a pricked bubble, and
that will start the whole school of shoe
string industrial organizations on the
down grade with a rapidity that must
soon reach annihilation.
High as orices seem today, safe in
vestments can he had which would pay
the present full value of money, and we
believe that they will increase rapidly as
soon as the feverish speculation that is
seeking to make millions out of nothing
shall have run its course.
A few of the substantial securities may
now be commanding more than their
actual value, but as a rule the soundest
securities of the country are not as high
as they will be before the close of the
year. There is no craze that is more un
reasoning than the craze to make millions
out of nothing. AVe are now witnessing
such a craze at the very zenith of its
career, and it is only a question of a short
time when the shoe-string industrials will
exist only as a nightmare in the memories
of the unfortunates.
She dresses shabbily for a purpose, de
clares that there is a conspiracy among
her archenemies, the lawyers of the coun
try, to take her life. Between the Hobo
ken flat, where she sleeps, and the Chem
ical bank of New York, where she has a
desk and works all day, she is often ac
companied by her bodyguard, the stal
wart nephew of a former New York police
inspector. She is careless in her speech,
drops her final g's and uses slang freely.
, Money making and talking are her chief
pleasures ar.d her main object in life is
to leave to her son, Edward, who lives in
princely style on his ranch in Texas, a
great fortune. She has proved that, in
finance, woman can be the equal of man.
Her energy and endurance, at sixty years
of age, surprises all who have dealings
with her. She is a woman such as only
American soil could produce.
The Louisiana Exposition.
Another matter of general interest is
the fact that there will be a flower pa
rade. This also partakes largely of the
nature of an entertainment, and though
it will very likely he given over to the
horticultural committee for manage
ment, the flower parade should not be
confounded in any manner with the
flower show. The latter is a fixed ex
hibit, while the former is a parade of ve
hicles of every description whose nature
would admit of high floral ornamentation.
Such a pageant was recently given in At
lanta, and there was the keenest sort of
competition engendered between owners
of vehicles who vied with each other in
adorning with natural and artificial
flowers their carriages and victorias. For
this form of entertainment special prizes
will be offered. •
The management has fixed the follow
ing special dates:
May S, peace jubilee; May 9, editor's
day; May 10, railroad day: May 11, ladies'
day; May 12, arts and sciences; May 13,
civic organizations; May 14, secret orders;
May 15, horse show; May 16,^iorse show;
May 17, horse show; May l§i horse show;
May 19, flower parade; May 20, flower pa
rade; May 21, military day; May 22, cot
ton, North Louisiana; May 23, sugar and
rice. South Louisiana: May 24, state insti
tutions; May 25, carnival of parishes; May
26, school children's day; May 27. flower
show; May 28, labor day; May 29, veter
ans; May 30, merchants’ day, advertise
ment parade; May 31, orphans.
TJIE MOT WQPiS.
Results of the Sunny South’s Contest on Such Ques
tions as “Quick flarriages vs. Long Engagements,’
“What Constitutes a Gentleman,” and
“What Constitutes a Lady?”
marriage, while she postponed it from
year to year, until she broke off entirely,
when he. in sheer recklessness, made a
most unsuitable marriage.
I have known others which were broken
off after years of weary waiting, which
t ndoubtedfy was an injury to both.
There is, however, a happy medium, and
my advice to those who contemplate mar
riage is to observe this in their engage
ments. SADIE G. BAIRD.
Key West, Fla.
IN TWO INSTALL MENTS.—PART L
Hetty Green Happy.
Jn Hetty Green's interminable lawsuits,
the attorney for the other side is Joseph
Choate. Tonight Hetty Green chuckled.
"Joseph's gone to England." she said.
“I always call him Joseph to his face,”
she said. “It makes him squirm."
Then the richest woman in America
stepped into the tiny back parlor and
carefully lowered the gas. This conver
sation took place in a cheap, neat flat in
Hoboken, where Mrs. Green is known as
Mrs. Dewey. She had recently migrated
from Brooklyn, a nomadic life being ne
cessary to one who would avoid paying
personal taxes. She admits, however,
that she is a resident of Bellows Falls,
Vt., where she has a pretty summer place.
When she returned to the front parlor
she spoke of the time more than thirty
years ago when, as Miss Robinson, she
was one of the belles of New York socie-
When the Prince of Wales was here
she danced with him. Later she lived in
England and was presented at court.
When Van Buren, then ex-president, sum-
merejl at Saratoga, Mrs. Green, then Miss
Robinson, was his honored guest. Then
her father died, leaving her $7,000,000.
Since then she has devoted her life to
business, has increased her fortune to
more than a hundred millions. The day
Judge Hilton would have failed she hand
ed him her check for $1,000,000 and saved
him. Her best friend now, next to her
daughter Sylvia, who lives with her, is
Rusself Sage. Her husband is an invalid.
What the President Costs.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says: It
costs the people of the United States
$114,865, a year for a chief executive. His
salary is $50,000 and “found." The presi
dent's finding is rather comprehensive,
covering about every possible require
ment of a family. His private secretary,
the clerks, doorkeepers, messengers and
steward and three other servants cost
$33,865 a year, which the president may
use according to his discretion. '
In furniture and repairs to the white
house the sum of $16,000 more, to be used
by the direction of the president, is pro
vided by the nation, and is always ex
pended. For fuel alone $3,000 is allowed,
and for necessary repairs to the green
house there is $4,000.
Altogether, the presidential “finding"
annually amounts to the snug sum of $64,-
865, nearly $15,000 a year more than his
salary. The two aggregate $114,865. This
is an imposing aggregate, but it is small
compared with other presidents. The
president of the French republic receives
as salary $120,000 a year, $32,4S0 for contin
gent purposes, and a handsome house,
rent free. So we get our president rather
cheaply after all.
Georgia Education.
We find upon our table the first issue of
a handsome 16-page magazine with the
above title and published in Atlanta. It
is designed to push forward all educa
tional interests of Georgia. It is ably ed
ited by Miss S. Y. Jewett and in her sal
utatory she says: “The public school sys
tem, which is growing year by year and
affects so intimately the lives of the
masses will fill a large share of our
space. The high school, the colleges,
and fche university will all be represent
ed from time to time.” It will be issued
twice a month at $1 a year.
THE GREAT S. R. R. SYSTEM.
l|J»e Highway of Trade and Travel
Running in Five Direction!
From Atldnta.
Among the great railroad systems of
this country not one surpasses the South
ern in scope, territory and equipment and
management. Like the hundred-handeS
Briarius, it reaches out its arms in every
direction and covers the entire country
from New York to New Orleans. It is now
reaching out for the grain trade of the
great northwest and will soon be the only
through line under one system between
St Louis and the South Atlantic sea
board. It runs Pullman vestibule trains
with dining cars from Atlanta to Wash
ington and New York and is the great
through route north, south, east and
west.
This is such a gigantic system that it
is divided up into divisions, with splendid
officers in charge of each. There is the
Washington division, Norfolk division,
Charlotte, Atlanta. Richmond, Asheville,
Columbia, Knoxville, Memphis, Macon,
Birmingham, Anniston and Louisville di
visions, covering all Doints in the south
and southwest and aggregating a mileage
of over five thousand miles, and with the
Alabama Great Southern, which it con
trols. it makes nearly six thousand miles..
S. H. Hardwick, one of the most popu
lar railroad men in the south, is assistant
general passenger agent of the whole
system, with his headquarters in Atlanta.
This great corporation is devotng its en
ergies and great resources to the up
building of the whole south, and Is there
fore in full sympathy with every southern
enterprise and a great benefactor. This
paper, The Sunny South, wishes it every
success, as we have been for years labor
ing on that line. J. H. S.
Some time ago The Sunny South offered
to its subscribers prizes for the
best short essays on these topics:
“Quick Marriages vs. Long Engage
ments.” “'What Constitutes a Gentle
man?” and “What Constiutes a Lady?"
Three prizes of five dollars in gold each
were offered for the three best articles
on the above named subjects, and the
next five best essays dealing with the al
ways interesting subject of “Quick Mar
riages vs. Long Engagements,” were to
secure for each writer a handsome book.
Responses 'were received from almost
every state in the Union, and the perusal
of these interesting documents has been
a pleasant task for the committee hav
ing the matter in charge, though it has
been difficult to make the award on ac
count of the excellence of dozens and
scores of the contributions submitted.
The prize of five dollars in gold for the
best article on “Quick Marriages vs. Long
Engagements” has been awarded to Mrs.
C. C. Garrett, of Brenham, Tex., who is
the author of the following thoughtful
and well-written essay:
THE 85 PRIZE ESSAY.
“A great deal depends upon what is
meant by quick marriages. It is never
wise to enter upon a life-long relation
hastily.
“There should be time for the pair to
know something of each other's charac
ter, disposition and tastes before mar
riage, but where these arc already well
known there would seem to be no reason
for lengthening the engagement merely
for the sake of time. I will not refer to
those unspeakable members of the human
race who marry total strangers, or who
arrange this sacred relation through ad
vertisements.
“There is something so vulgar, almost
indecent, about that sort of a marriage as
to place it entirely outside of this discus
sion. No one should contract a marriage
thoughtlessly, neither should one enter
into a long engagement without due con
sideration. If two people care enough
for each other to marry, a year of wait
ing should be no strain upon their affec
tion. Greatly beyond that time is an ex
periment. and the result in the majority
of cases doubtful. 'Where two people love
each other so entirely and devotedly that
life is worth nothing to each without the
other, if^they are both of so constant and
unchangeable a nature that neither time
nor distance can weaken or destroy their
affection, and if there are obstacles to
their union which may in time be over
come, then by all means the engagement
should be as long as necessary.
“One such instance I have known. The
pair were young and the girl not fair,
though the sequel proved her possessed
of higher qualities. The young man's
parents opposed the match and he was
bound by duty and interest to consult
their wishes. Faithfully and patiently he
cared for them for ten long years, and
then they died, almost at the same time
and blessing him with one accord.
“Meanwhile the girl had borne her mild
struggle with fate equally well. There
was grinding poverty in her home and
the small wages she earned by tedious la
bor helped greatly to lighten her parents'
load of care, while she wore her frocks
of rusty black with patient grace. There
were others who offered her marriage,
hut for them she did not care, and though
she saw her fiance but seldom, neither
ever gave the other cause for jealousy or
distrust.
"Finally, when the young man's free
dom came, for it was freedom, though he
mourned his parents sincerely, and he
was at last his own master with a com
fortable property at his disposal, he
promptly sought out the girl he loved to
share his good fortune. I meet her some
times driving about in her pretty pony
phaeton with a fair-haired little daugh
ter beside her. both mother and child
wearing the nicest of clothing, and each
a happy smile. ,
“But cases like this are most rare. Such
perfect trust and such unconventional de
votion are not met with more than once
in a lifetime.
“A long engagement is very embarrass
ing to a girl, especially If the fact be
comes public. For obvious reasons she is
compelled to dissemble her interest in her
lover, more or less. So soon as a girl is
known to be engaged her men friends
leave her severely alone. Why. I could
never tell, as nobody could suppose they
all wished to marry her.
“Girls are not so scrupulous. They de
light to lay little snares for the unwary
feet of the engaged man, and consider it
rare sport to bait his fiance into a show
of anger or resentment.
“Hundreds of little poisoned darts are
directed at her from all sides, the sharp
little stabs that women are fond of deal
ing each other. It is suggested that the
lover is unworthy, or unfaithful, or, in
some cases, that his love is not disinter
ested, that he is growing tired of his
bonds, and, failing all else, people pleas
antly ‘wonder why they don’t get mar
ried.’
“Beside outside influences, there is the
risk of misunderstandings and jealousies
between the pair themselves. A relation
so vital and yet so delicate is not easily
maintained for a long term without fric
tion.
“Should it seem necessary or best to
fenter into a long engagement, the affair
is much better kept secret, for it is al
ways possible that the desire or necessity
for severing the tie may arise, and conse
quent explanations are not pleasant.
“I perceive that my view of this matter
is entirely from the girl's standpoint,
which is not irrational, however, for men
are seldom deeply injured by a disappoint
ment of this sort. Their affections are
very elastic, and readily turn to some
other object. A few intense natures cling
obstinately to a love, once given, but
these are so rare that they cannot be
considered in a generalization.
“I do not think that the knowledge of
each other derived from a long engage
ment, which is the usual argument in its
favor, is sufficient to repay its disadvant
ages.
“It is a comparatively rare thing that a
very long ehgagement reaches its legiti
mate termination. I have known several
to turn out badly.
“There was a youth who loved a maid
tenderly, chivolrously. but he was not
blessed as to this world's goods, and he
would not ask her to share his poverty,
though her heart was his. So they ex
changed the old vow. ‘faithful unto
death.’ and parted, and he went away to
seek the fortune that was to be the foun
dation of their happiness.
“Now. there was another who loved the
maid, not so scrupulous, and about the
lovers he wove such a tissue of deceit
and falsehood, such a tangle of misun
derstanding and slander, wove it so skill
fully, strongly, and all unsuspected, that
stung with indignation and a woman's
pique at her lover's supposed falseness,
the girl listened to the schemer's suit and
finally married him.
“Not a very happy marriage, I believe,
especially after she had learned the
means by which -^he had been won.
“There was nothing to have kept apart
another pair of lovers I knew except the
girl’s strong sense of duty to her own
family. A mistaken one, many people
thought, but she was sincere in it. The
mother was an invalid, the father care
worn and far from rich, while a flock of
younger brothers and sisters needed love
and care. Her lover refused to give the
girl up, so they plighted their faith and
promised each other to ‘bide a wee.’ Two
years went by and the man’s patience be
gan to waver. His fancy was caught by
the bright, piquant beauty of a lively
young girl who knew not a care.
“ ‘So these were wed.’ and happily, giv
ing not a thought to the heroic soul who
had sacrificed her life’s happiness to
‘stern and passing duty.’
“In choosing between quick marriages
or long engagements, so much depends
upon the circumstances and the people
that I know of no better way than for
each individual case to be arranged ac
cording to the best judgment of the per
sons most concerned. It is after all so
very personal a question that it is impos
sible to formulate any general rule.
“MRS. C. C. GARRETT,
“Brenham. Texas."
THE FIVE NEXT BEST.
This rollicking poem, from a lady of
Marshall, Missouri, wins a book prize:
Young Patsey O’Toole courted Kitty
O’Flynn,
’Twas love at first 'bight, and they both
tumbled in
Just as soon as they met, on a balmy day,
And the wooing went on in the time-hon
ored way.
Now Patsey was ardent hut Kitty was
coy,
He breathed honeyed words and she hark
ened with joy
As stoutly he pleaded, nor never once
ceased,
’Till at last she consented to visit the
priest.
In a neat little cottage, just over the hill,
Bold Pat and sweet Kitty are lovering
still;
Though, sometimes, adverse winds of fate
blow their way.
They smile through it all and thank God
for the day.
Now Kitty’s young mistress was gentle
and fair.
With Patsey’s young master, not one
could compare.
As Cupid was shooting at random one
day,
He punctured their hearts in the cruelest
way.
But she was unwilling to settle for life,
And he was not ready to marry a wife.
So they merrily plighted their troth,
’neath the rose,
Unmindful of friends and regardless of-
foes.
For years they swam on in the gay social
swim.
He faithful to her and she faithful to him,
'Till, at last, they agreed the spent whirl
to abjure.
So they had a big wedding and went on a
tour.
Alas for the man. for the maid, ah, alack!
They traveled awhile, and when they
came back,
They found, at their hearthstone, a spec
tre, in truth,
And the lean, lanky guest was the ghost
of their youth.
The moral, my. friend, to be sure it is
plain,
When two hearts beat as one, deferred
marriage Is vain;
So take on the yoke while young love
lights the way.
Adjust the new reins and he happy for
aye. LOLLIPOP.
AGAINST LONG ENGAGEMENTS.
From Sadie G. Baird. Key West, Fla.,
comes the following earnest argument
in favor of quick marriages under certain
conditions:
“Are quick marriages or long engage
ments best? Truly that might sometimes
be a very puzzling question, but In this
instance we are only told to give the
opinion which is formed from a knowledge
of certain facts; and so I shall say just
here that, judging from the results of
long engagements which I have known I
most emphatically disapprove of them.
On the other hand I do not believe in
marriages being too much hurried, par
ticularly if the parties are strangers to
each other: then some time should be
allowed for mutual acquaintance. I have
known of two very short engagements
which terminated in happy marriages, but
in both cases the family of each was well
known to the other, and so of course it
was not at all like a union of utter
strangers.
I now recall only one long engagement,
among many I have known, which ended
ir a happy marriage, and this one per
haps. owed the constancy and beautiful
faithfulness of its continuance to the
opposition of the girl’s parents, which
furnished a well known incentive In such
matters.
I once knew a young man of plain pa
rentage and very limited advantages who
so strongly desired an education that of
course he got It. While an ignorant
country hoy he became engaged to a
vc.ung girl of like condition. The engage
ment lasted during the seven years he
was preparing himself for a teacher, and
acquiring sufficient to marry on. At the
end of this time he married her—the
same ignorant girl he had loved in his
ignorance. To an intimate friend he
acknowledged his mistake, but asserted
that he must marry her—she had waited
so long. It is needless to say such ine
quality produced no happiness, and that
at the time of marriage had he been free
to choose hq would have chosen very
differently.
I also knew another young man who
consumed seven years of an enagement
in preparing for and establishing himself
in one of the professions, marrying at
the end of it, being very greatly attached
to several other girls during this time,but
with that mistaken sense of honor, he
too, remained outwardly faithful; but
two more miserable people after marriage
I have never seen. She learned the truth
when too late, poor girl: but peace came
to her in two short years, for God took
her to Himself. I must say that to the
man it seemed a relief; not that he was
hard or heartless, but the strain under
the circumstances must have been very
great. He waited several years, then
married one who had attracted him dur
ing his engagement.
I knew another young man who, dur
ing an engagement of several years, was
constantly urging the girl to a speedy
THEY MARRIED IN HASTE.
Claude H. Hogan. Batesville, Ark., tells
a tragic story in this essay:
“The treasures of the deep are not so
precious
As are the concealed comforts of a man
Lock’d up in woman’s love. I scent the
air
Of blessings, when I come hut near the
house.
What a delicious breath marriage sends
forth—
The violet beds not sweeter.”
—MIDDLETON.
The above is so true when the disposi
tion, social likes and dislikes of two
hearts harmonize and their whole life is
made to burn with a purer and more bril-
laint light by the fiery furnace of Love,
and forever and aye they are united by
the welding strokes of the hammer,
“whom God has joined together let not
man put asunder."
But it i3 not always thus, and the
question now before ns is which will pro
duce the happiest results, long engage
ments or short engagemente ?f ;/
As did Pizarro in the conquest of Peru,
we have drawn a line with the point of our
sword the pen. On one side lies long
engagements with its untold riches, viz:
The happy consummation of two loving
hearts and a beautiful, peaceful and pos
sibly a prosperous life the balance of their
allotted time here on earth. On the other
lies short engagements with its wretched
poverty, viz: The consummation of two
hearts but not loving ones. It’s only a
brief period of fascination, the true morn
ing of the responsibilities of life dawn
upon them, the hazy mist rises and drifts
quickly away, then short cries, cruel
words, curses, blows separation.
Upon which side shall we take our
stand? Remembering on one side we
have a long, hard struggle but untold
riches, on the other a sharp, quick, de
cisive struggle and misery and poverty
of heart. We cross the line and will take
up the sword for long engagements.
Long engagements enable two, con
templating matrimony, to study each oth
er's disposition, likes and dislikes, and if,
after a period of time, say two or three
years, they find that they are not in har
mony with each other they can, and
should, annul their engagement, for man
is not entirely a creature of affection,
woman is. Washington Irving says:
“Man is the creature of interest and
ambition. His nature leads him forth into
the struggle and bustle of the world.
Love is but the embellishment of his
early life, or a song piped in the intervals
of the acts. He seeks for fame, for for
tune, for space in the world’s thought,
and dominion over his fellow man. Bu.
a woman's whole life is a history of the
affections. The heart is her world; it is
there her ambition strives for empire—
it is there her avarice seeks for hidden
treasures. She sends forth her sympa
thies on adventure; she embarks her
whole soul in the traffic of affection and
if shipwrecked, her case is hopeless—for
it is a bankruptcy of the heart."
Hence should It be love at first sight
and a marriage within a fortnight it will
prove in a majority of such cases bank
ruptcy of the heart, for such cases are
mere fancy and fascination, they do not
and can not know each other.
Pardon me for occupying so much time
and space, but I wish to briefly relate the
history of two who were married aftFr >
an engagement of four short weeks.
She was beautiful—'
“Aind ne’er did Grecian chisel trace
A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace,
Of fairer form, or lovelier face!"
—SCOTT.
She was educated, fascinating, bewitch
ing. He was tail and handsome and in
teresting, They were fascinated with
each other. He whispered words of love,
she eagerly drank them in. They be
came intoxicated on what they thought
was love. He proposed, she accepted.
Four short weeks in heaven, then they
were married. Angels in Paradise, seem
ingly. could not have been happier for a
short period of time. Soon, though, a
tiny stream was seen approaching. It
was the stream of difference in opinions.
This stream was fed by many tributaries,
such as difference in disposition, differ
ence in likes and dislikes. It rolled on
between them, washing from bank to
bank until it became a mad, rushing,
roaring stream that could not be bridged.
He disliked the expressing of her opin
ion on certain subjects. It soon dawned
upon them that their dispositions were
not in harmony, that they were totally
unfit for each other. The stream grew
wider. There were red and swollen eyes,
long cries, curses, and finally in a mad
fit he struck her. Separation followed.
Her brother, brooding over the fate of his
sister, met him on the streets one day
and shot him. She was now frail and
weak from the long strain on her nervous
system and this last act, the murder of
her husband by her brother, • was more
than her already overtaxed mind and
heart could stand, she became a raving
maniac and a few days later her soul
was wafted hence to Him who said,
"Come, and I will give thee rest.”
“O make her a grave where the sunbeams
rest,
Where they promise a glorious morrow;
They’ll shine o'er her sleep, like a smile
from the west
From her own loved island of sorrow."
Will not all agree with me that this
sad. sad marriage and tragic ending
could, and would have been averted had
they prolonged their engagement and
made a close study of each other’s dis*.
position?
All cases are not thus, we readily
'agree, but a majority of unions from
short engagements prove, invariably, to
be unhappy 'V>nes, hence why we are in
favor of long engagements?
CLAUDE H. HOGAN.
Batesville, Ark)
TWO SAD STORIES.
Rev. J. W. Beck, Mansfield, Texas,
writes interestingly as follows:
“To say that long engagements between
voung men and young women are best
is a delusion and a snare.
"Many there are now living who sought
happiness through long worship at the
shrine of Hymen only to find out, when
too late, that their long tarrying wreck
ed their hopes, broke their hearts and left
them lonely and sadly alone in (to them)
a heartless, cruel world.
"In the historic land of old Kentucky,
where women are beautiful and true,
there lived a beautiful girl, happy in her
father's home. Her beauty and sweet
disposition, no less than her culture and
refinement, attracted the gallant and the
gay, the brave and the true among the
young men of her immediate community
and surrounding country.
All too soon she had entered society,
and alas, too soon she gave her heart and
promised her hand to one of her suitors.
Soon it was known, and the successful
man was given an almost clear field.
Months came and went, and their happi
ness seemed to increase' with the time
The young man pleaded in vain for the
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