The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1854-11-23
& Wo-d on Runaway Maria ges.

4 No-d on Runaway Marriag ges.
Every few weeks we meet with par
agrapb, in the newspapers, detailing the
incidents Of some late, runaway marriage.
Generally the story is told in such man
ncr as to excite sympathy for4the young
couple. A cruel fntber, or mercenary
mother, figure, like human ogres, in tho
back ground; while the disObedicnt chill
dren are invested with an imaginary halo
of love, hymen, cupids, altars, and bliss
that is never to cease.
All this is very pretty on paper. But
what is the reality! In how many eases
are the parents entirely in fault! In how
many, with faults on both sides, are the
disobedicnt children the least cen>urable?
We suspect, if the truth could be ascer.
tained, that where there l. one instance
of the parents bring most to blame there
are ten where the daughter and her lover
came in for the chief part Of the fault
We put it to our contemporaries there
fore, Whether they are hot doing society
and public morals serious injuFy i'll thus
throwing an air Of romance around ruDa-
way matches.
If mcrcenaary marriages were as fire.
qucnt as they are OH the Continent of Eu-
rope, there mi ght be more palliatiou for
the disobedience Of children in this re-
spect. Where, as in France, girl is
bartcred off, by her parents, often without
having seen her future husband, outraged
human nature may reasonably be expec-
ted to rebel, and charity will be leDieut
towards summary matches. But, in these
United States, the great majority of pa
rents seek only the happiness ofthe child,
and having themselves married for afec-
ton, know that it is best secured by
union based on esteem. They object, is
true TO dissipated suitorS for their daugE-
ters; to young men without either means
or character; and to lovers, who, in other
particulars, would ineoutestatly render
their wives unhappy. The cases are very
rare where the opposition of the parents
is unreasonable, and still more rare where
such opposition would not give way to pa
tient torbearance Time in nearly every
instance, would prove the ally of the
lovers, if the hostility of fathers was un-
just; for time would prove that the lover
had proper business capacity or had per-
mancutly reformed, or was in other re-
Spects worthy Of hi, coveted bride.
We are satisfied that the great major
ity of runaway marriages owe their origin
to novel reading. Silly girls peruse fc-
tions of European lite, where parents
really are cruel, and not pereciying how
different American life is, persuaded
themselves that their father is q tyrant
also. O!tcu they go further, by falling
in love, according to the orthodox novel
fashion, with some lack adaisical dandy,
n love of man, as nursery maids say,
or with whiskered TOUe, whom they pro-
fe>s to be able to reform, but whose vices
make him all the more interesting, as
they did Byron's heroes and Bulwer's
Paul Clifford. Others think it romantic
in itself TO have runaway. Their names,
they tell themselves, will be in the papers;
editors will pen congratulatory para
graphs, and sympathizing hearts over
thirty States will watt wishes for lie long
happiness to the prosecuted pair.
This brings US back to what We set
out with;-that newspapers are not en-
tirely free from blame. If paragraphs
respecting runaway matches were head
ed. Stop the Culprits, or Two Fools
gone Astray, justice would be done in
nine cases out of ten, aud some check. at
least. be put to such elandestiue affairs
Ledger.