Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1850-02-22

INV, uidt VIC tOuC vi N anu ltCilIIR
with which clandestine marriages are
commented upon in conversation, and
by the press generally, is one Of lcvity
and undisguised satisfaction. 1t is COM
monty regarded as one of the best jokes,
If foolish daughter of fifteen or sixteen
years of age succeeds in outwitting faith
er and mother, and runs off with COM
parative stranger. Editorial wit is taxed
TO its EXTREMIST capability 10 render rdic-
ulous the distress and anxiety of the be-
reaved father, as he follows his wander
ing child. And if fortune favors the
runaways, and the knot is tied before the
parent can interpose warning word, the
general JOY is rap,urous. 1t is triumph
of young love over stern, unsymp PATH
zing, tyrannical household authority,
which calls for the merriest celebration.
Or if the idea should occur 10 any, that
all is not quite right in such cavalier treat
ment of parents, il is soon apologised for
by the sage observation that young folks
will be young folks.
Take it all in all, stranger to our
manners and customs would be likely to
infer that parental rule and counsel i'm
piled something very dreadful and OPP
pressive, and that the young ladies of the
land were held in home bondage of the
most unjust and ungenerous character.
At the risk of being regarded as very
old-fashioned, we shall nevertheless ac-
knowledge that we can rarely see any
thing of the nature of good joke in a
clandestine or runaway wedding. We
confess to feeling of sadness and evil
foreboding, when we hear that girl,
who is mere child, has made up her
mind to repudiate the love and anxious
care of the mother who bore her, and Of
the father who cherished her as his life
that she has turned her face away
from the altar Of home, from the nest of
her infancy, and put herself into the
hands of man whom her parents dare
not trust.
We need hardly remark that marriage
is the great event in woman's life, from
which all other events take their coloring.
If she err here, her whole life is one Of
unavailing penunce, of scalding tears, of
sharp and blighting sorrow. She cannot
go back and undo her fault: she dare not
look to The future. for it is all desolate to
her. These things being SO, it follows
that young lady should yield her hand
and heart, only after the most prudent
and cautious forethought. She should
avail herself of tie wisdom and expert
ence of those who love her, and above
all of her parents, and after all she will
feel that the chances are sufficiently nu-
merous that she may still make an un-
wise choice.
But in most clandestine marriages, the
girl is child, ignorant of the world;
without experience; deficient in judge
ment; her mind probably filled with false
notions and ianciful day dreams, derived
from novelists and romances. She meets
with young man at party; or ball,
or no matter where, who ssems interest
ed in her, and she is flattered by his APP
parent admiration. He conducts her
home; calls on her the next day; repeats
his call, and they are thenceforth in love,
if they were not at the first glance
They have become the Romeo and Juliet
of what is a play in the outset, but
tragedy in its close.
The incompetence of the young girl
TO estimate the character of her lover is
perfectly apparent to every one but her.
self. 1t is enough for her that he ap-
pears to love her sincerely and ardentlv.
He proposes marriage to her, and is
probably accepted without reference to
the parents. He entreats that an early
day may be named for their union. If
there is any doubt Of her parents con-
currence, this is wanted, too; and if pa
rental objections or difficulties threaten
10 inierpose, an eiopement is the next
question agitaled and agreed to. They
are consoled by the thought that there is
something romantic in runaway match,
and that such things are rather praised
than condemned; and, besides, after all
is over, il will not be difficult to make up
with father and mother.
A rejecting woman would see that the
young man who sues for her love with
out the sanction of her parents, gives
prima facie evidence that something is
wrong about him; something that shuns
the light and fears investigation. A wo-
man in her right mind would say, "My
parents know and confde in; they love
me and my happiness; their lot in life is
bound up with mine, SO that if err they
will be wretched. They shall be my
councillors. | will not trust my own too
partial eye to investigate my lovers char
acter, and / will refer il to them.' -
Such would be any prudent girls course,
and such course would seldom, if ever,
end in an elopement.
But such is not the course of that large
class Of young girls who figure in runa.
way matches. And the consequence is,
thai such girls fall an easy prey to the
thousand of genteel loafers, worthless,
porlionless, and heartless vagrants, who
contrive TO keep up respectable exteri-
or by preying upon society.
While we write these lines, we think
of the mulitudes of once young, thought
less girls who have fallen into such hands,
and found, after few months of mar
ried lie, their terrible mistake. They