Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1837-05-03

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said that every thing with them was an
affair Of money. But there is one matter
which, with US, people of strong atfec-
ton, loving, generous people, has, In
great degree, this mercantile character,
and which does not have it among the
Americans, and that is marriage. We
purchase a wife with our fortune, or we
sell ourselves 10 her for her dowry. The
American chooses her, or rather offers
himself to her, for heI beauty, her intelli-
gence, and her qualities of heart. These
are the only dowry he seeks. Thus,
while We make matter Of traffic of what
is most sacred, this mercantile people have
delicacy and an elevation of sentiments
which would do honor to the most perfect
models of chivalry. TO their industry,
they owe this superiority. Our idle citi-
zens, unable to increase their patrimony,
are obliged when they take wife to cal
culate the dowry, in order to know wheth-
er their joint revenue will suffice for the
expenses Of the household. The AmeIi-
can, having acquired the taste and habit
Of Industry, is sure Of providing amply for
the wants ofhis family, and dispenses with
this pitiful calculation.
If the following extract from the same
work shows any difference between Eu-
rope and the United States, respecting the
odlum attached to a violation of the do
mestic constitution, that difference is ow-
ing 10 the fact that the United States are
yet in their infancy 1t is not little to
our credit, that there is much more mo-
rallty among the lower classes ofthe Uni
ted States, than among the high, polite
and refined circles Of Europe. live wish
to have the morals of France introduced
among US, we have nothing to do but to
let the vices ofour great cities alone, and
they will soon exert a controlling inhu-
ence over public morals and manners, in
town and country.
Mr.. Chevalier refers, at the end of the
second volume, TO the respect and attention
shown generally to women in the United
States, even in the lower classes:
THE American community" he SAYS,
is more advanced than the European in
what relates TO the family and the house
hold. The union oftbe man and the wife
IS more sacred among American laborers,
than among the citizens ofsome countries
OF Europe. Though in America mar
rage is accompanied with less formality
and ceremony than with US, and though
the con- ugal tie is not as indissolubIe as in
our countries, cases of adultery are ex
tremely rare. The untaithtul spouse
would become a lost woman A man
who should seduce a woman, or who
should be known to have an illicit attach
ment, would be accommodated by the
public voice In the United States, even
in the laboring class, man knows better
the obligations of the strong sex towards
the weak sex, than among French citi-
zens. Not only does the American me-
chanic or farmer spare his wife as much
as possible all painful labor, all unsuita-
BILE occupation, but he shows towards her,
and towards all women in general, DO
likeness unknown among US by men who
yet believe they possess much cultivation
ofmind, and much learning. In the Uni
ted States, in public places and in travel
ing, man, whatever be his talents and
his services, is not an object Of any atten.
ton. No preference nor any peculiar
poIlteness is shown him all the men are
equal. But a woman, whatever be the
station and fortune Of her husband, is
sure TO command universal respect and
regard"
THE salary Of man being
sufficient for the subsistence and main.
tenance of his family, the wife has no
other Iabors than those of the household
a great advantage for herself, but greater
for her children. 1t Is now a rule with
out exception among the Anglo-Ameri-
cans that the woman be exempted from
every rude employment. A woman, for
example, never takes part in the Iabors of
the field, and never carries burdens
Thus freed from Occupation incompatible
with her delicate constitution, the woman
is also freed from that repulsive deformity,
and that coatseness Of complexion which
poverty and fatigue inflict upon her every
where else. Every woman here has the
features as we'll as the air of a lady, and
endeavors to appear as such. You will
seek in vain among the Anglo-Americans
from the mouth of the ST. Lawrence TO
that of the Mississippi, for one of those
degraded beings which are feminine only
physioIogically, and with which all our
cities abound or one of these viragoes
which throng our markets, and three
quarters of our fields"