The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-02-24

ZION Is not given n this country to the statiscs o.
matrimony. Nothing more surely marks the real
prosperity OF people than the ratio of MARI ,pes
to the population. In Austria this ratio IA ANAL
because marriage Is forbidden by law to those who
cannot show . reasonable prospect of maintaining
family, and they are many who cannot meet Mis-
condition. The ratio Is small in Paris for such l.
the demand for luxurious living among all classes
that marriage becomes an impossibty to those oi
slender income. In our own country the matr
monial market has heretofore been very generally
of the best both as TO supply and demand 10
quantity and quality of its wares but we see il
stated that 1t is rather heavy at this time in some
of larger cities. II ia said that In Boston there
was last year falling off of twenty per GEN.. on
the marriages of the previous year. The men are
handsome and the womer as willing as they ever
were but marriage has become luxury that lew
can afford The rise in bonnets and talmas, laces
and furs, silks and grenadines, has depressed the
marriage market
We saw the other day an inventory of lady i
:" turn out" Ia San Francisco. The jewelry cost
81 SIS, the entire outfit So 464. the dress alone
being put at 1925. To be sure these were Cali
forDia prices. but let red uce her $3.50 worth OF
dress by leo per cent TO meet our prices, and you
still have woman too fine for q poor mans wifi :.
Who can afford to have three hundred dollars OF
his income paradng the streets every time bis
wife turns OUT, to say nothing of the watch brace.
lets, and other appendix gesl If 1t were a suit of
steel armor, or some everlasting material, it might
be tolerated, but it will never DO in these days
when fashions change 50 rapidly that December
f,rge's what last Jaouary wore. And yet gen
teel society is inexorable. Poor people In this
eouatry often manage somehow to belong 10 that
very respectable caste, but they must pay for it.
Ii does not always matter about their grammar or
rhetoric their manners or morals, but their dress
and furniture and eQuipage, are all important -
stain on the character is easily forgotten while
the bonnet of last winter il remembered, and the
former may be tolerated, the latter not second
season. Geuteel society has q certain style and
Its subj Gets must be versed 10 its rules and abide
by them, or be banished. &c. at least foolish peo.
pie suppose, and they practice accordingly -
Hence the extravaganza that every where abounds
and hence the decliue 10 the matrimonial market
There ia a multitude OF young mechanics whose
wages are moderate, clerks whose salaries are
small lawyers whose briefs are too blief. and ply
sieiaps who do not feel pulses enough to fill purs,
any of whom by strict economy could support q
wife, but who will, if there is not speedy change,
be wholly unable to enter the market They are
doomed TO celibGcy, or to worse. Start not fa r
reader, if f.iend asks you how many of thos CAV
Young men whom you see at an evening party SO
genteel so polite, have learned that q eoncubine
is less expensive than ife. You will be shocked
when you know how mauy there are and who
they are And it is the fault of thtir motters sis.
ters and sweethearts. They have carried foliy
and extravaganza in dreos and living to SO high g.
pitch that poor young man of any pride of cha
racter is afraid to marry. No man wishes to see
bis wife living in humber style than his ati anced
or seem to want from the husband what the faith Ter
supplied. Rather, he desires that his chosen 81
least appear better off married than single; but
Bow can he when young ladies dress as they now
oo2 OF this be is hopeless, ard if his moral cha-
rseter be not well established the yren can in such
cases too often succ6 ssfuly tempt him to his un-
doing, and cause him TO entangle himself in some
immoral alliance that ruins him forever.
Bat peradventure he runs the risk and marries
The extrsvagant taste that have been as duousy
cultivated by the father and mother of the you NJ
wife, are brought to maturity under the fostering
care of the indugent husband BUTT sarst mo
raj strength to do it The ordinary sources OF mo-
ney fail to supply his needs-paient toll does not
suffice, and grand speculations must be adven-
tured The show Of prosperity is necessary TO the
bold speculator; and money is spent by husband
and wife without stint. Fortune does not smile
upon the adventurer, and often, in these cases. q
desperate game is played, in which moral oharac-
ter ia staked against the chance of gain and lost
How many forgeries and defalcations can be
traced precisely to this source How many hus.
bands curse the day they ever began to indulge
the extravagant tastes { theic wives How many
wives, when failure, poverty and degradation
come, would gladly have forgone their folly could
they have predicted the end. Let US hope that the
evil has reached its height, and that society will
soon be restored to its senses by the misfortunes
and crimes that attend its madDess.
This is no trifing subject to the mothers Of this
generation 1t is n ith them to shape the tastes
and habits of their daughters The husband often
succeeds IN acquiring competency which the IA
ther fails to retain. The wife may add to a pros
Perty WHICH the daughters exhaust before the old
est gets out her teens, or strikes some other vein
for gold than the paternal pocket Look to it, ye
mothers, that you teach other and wiser arts than
those OF show and dress Look to it, o. there may
De such decline In the demand f)r walking mill.
merry blocks that few years hence you " i'll see
only bevy Of fading spinsters, where you had
hoped to see your grand children at play; you
wondering meanwhile if the matrimonial marke
will ever rise SO high that they may yet become
cate.