Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1857-01-01
Marriages and Costly Living Increase Of
FiAely and Decrease Of Eatrimony-Why

ElHely and Decrease OF Eatrlmony-Why
Leap Year was q Failure.
From tie Albany Evening Journal
The statisticians of Boston report that
4" Leap Year has been a failure in the Modern
Athens. There has been twenty per cent. less
Of marriage there this year than the last. The
fact is by no means one to be joked over.
Finally, however, the nodern-Athenian sta
~tistician ascribe it to the passions and expenses
Of the recent Presidential electionl Taey view
wedlock from afar. If they come quite up TO
the Boston HymeBial altar they would be in the
way Of an explanation Of the lamentabls fact
they publish. That shrine to Love and Mar
rage is orushingly draped with silk at from
three dollars to fifteen dollars yer yard-it is
festooned with laces at prices 10 cause lOck-iaw
to hear of--expensiye jemmed jewelry flashes
through the meshes Of the point d'Alencons at
every ~part--silyer plate, paved thick upon leases
of " genteel residences" supports the altar
silver and milliner's bills for every purchasabIe
luxury and necessary, more terrible than the
bills Of v~ultures, litter the base Of 1t as votive
leaves to the Frost Spirit circle the oak in au-
tumn. What effect has this proclamation Of the
shrine Of Marriage on the young men Of
Boston, who would fam bring to it their per
sonal offerings?
Those statisticians can see it and hear it.
The current of masculine manageable humsni-
~ sets right by without stopping. Great signs
heaved from the bottom Of prudent but hopeless
hearts, are all that is given to hymen. Young
artists, yong a~rtisans, young doctors, mer-
chants clerks, lawyers Of more youth than eli
entsge, get all out Of debt and earning comfort
bic and honorable subsistence fer one, according
to the scale Of 1916, pass by quickly, alarmed
by the evidences Of the memorable conditions
attached to reputable marriage in these evil
days Of competition and social display.
Marriage is becoming a luxury to men in the
United States. The cost Of provisions, the wa
yes of labor, the rent Of dwellings, the cost Of
necessaries and Of Injuries, added to the unre-
lenting pressure upon people in respectable So
ciety to dress richly and furnish sh0wily, make
the inevitable price Of a family out of reach Of
the salaries and incomes Of most Of the young.
OF the effect on the morals and character of :
state In which wedlock is prohibited, it is un-
necessary TO enlarge. By reading or by traysl
we are an familiar with il in France and in
Austria. Prudence and custom forbid marriage
in the former country, where there is not as
suredjncome to maintain its wants and social
pretensions. In the latter, the armedlaw holds
asnnder from the relations of husband and
wife couples who do not possess property guar
antics that their children shall not become a
burden to the State. In all ranks Of its society
income Is the marriage cement Of love.
Marriage may as efectualiy be prohibited by
the expenses Of millinery ware and house-fur-
nishlng, as by a police regulation. If those
modern Athenian statiscians will stand with
their note books beside their marriage altar for
two years to come, they will have 10 record a
steadily diminishing worship at the shrine. If
old naidhood be, as many say, an evil, the pen
atty Of a general population of cotton goods
and a seorn of gingnam, will be paid in every
house whr.s there are daughters. Does it not
beboove al mothers-all good mothers-toi i'm
itate, Individually If not in concert. the wise
conduct of the Belgic women Of Brussels Sun
per Tendom?o Their Retrenchment Socie-
ty" has been organized to make economy fash
ionable. Its weekly meetings receive renorts
OF superhaities dispensed with, and discuss the
feasibility Of further curtailments in house
hold and personal expenses. Its members are
mothers, and thess their labors are for the pur-
pose of saving marriage to their grown I'D
daughters, by making it practicable for those
young men whose capital is disproportioned to
their industry and integrity.
Oh for the restoration Of ginghams AID prints!
Is there no deliverance fron the silkss web of
evil which French looms weave for us?A