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Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/36

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30 THE CRATER; wife, though not to live with her; but the young couple might correspond by letter, as often as they pleased. Such was an outline of the treaty made between the high con tracting parties. In making these arrangements, Doctor Yardley was partly influenced by a real paternal interest in the welfare of his daughter, who he thought altogether too young to enter on the duties and cares of the married life. Below the surface, however, existed an indefinite hope that some thing might yet occur to prevent the consummation of this most unfortunate union, as he deemed the marriage to be, and thus enable him to get rid of the hateful connection altogether. How this was to happen, the worthy doctor certainly did not know. This was because he lived in J796, instead of in 1847. Now-a-days, nothing is easier than to separate a man from his wife, unless it be to obtain civic honours for a murderer. Doctor Yardley, at the present moment, would have coolly gone to work to get up a lamentable tale about his daughter s fortune, and youth, and her not knowing her own mind when she mar ried, and a ship s cabin, and a few other embellishments of that sort, when the worthy and benevolent statesmen who compose the different legislatures of this vast Union would have been ready to break their necks, in order to oass a bill of divorce. Had there been a child or two, it would have made no great difference, for means would have been devised to give the custody of them to the mo ther. This would have been done, quite likely, for the first five years of the lives of the dear little things, because the children would naturally require a mother s care ; and afterwards, because the precocious darlings, at the mature age of seven, would declare, in open court, that they really loved ma more than they did pa! To write a little plainly on a very important subject, we are of opinion that a new name ought to be adopted for the form of govern ment which is so fast creeping into this country. New things require new names; and, were Solomon now living, we will venture to predict two things of him, viz. he would change his mind on the subject of novelties, and he would never go to congress. As for the new name, we would respectfully suggest that of Gossipian, in lieu of that of