The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-03-10
marriages on tho DeeIlne In New

marriages on Lnb DeClkh6 1h-NGh
tEaEs York City.
One of the phenomena of the times,
says the New York Express, is a
growing unpopularity in the marriage
institution. The number of marriages
is relatively growing less every year,
especially in cities. A New York cor
respondent of the Illinois Journal gives
the following as the result of his obser-
walton on this important subject.
There have been no marriages of con-
sequence in what may be termed "high
life" this season, nor anything like the
usual number among the middle classes.
Now and then we see wedding cards,
or bride at the opera or evening par
ties, but the number is astonishingly
small. People are of course marrying
all the time, but who are they3 People
whom nobody knows. The everlasting
poor are tying themselves up for life as
usual.
When aman reaches that deplorable
condition that he has not a change of
shirts to his back, he is in ii fit condition
for, the sacrifice. That has always been
strong incentive to the alter-bound, ,
that when fortune frowns her hardest,
and when things have gone to their
worst, many n man defies fate and takes
n wife. If his lot in life improves, and
il can hardly do otherwise, he gives the
institution the credit. In business cir
cles and in the social scale there has al
ways been n premium on marriage.
The man who takes a wife gives hos
tages to fortune, and has bound him
self more firmly to the drudgery of toll.
Merchants and bankers raise the SALARY
of q Young man when he marries, and
freouently refuse to do it until then. 1t
h as passed into Il proyerb that II a man
lido not marry young. it grows less and
hess probable with him, and that is, per-
caps, after all, the best argument for
arly marriages. 80,
FASHIONABLE IHDIoRALITIES.
There is lesson in this state of af-
fairs important for us to learn. IL is by
no means a novel thing under the sun,
and is not altogether left to human ca
price. It is symptom of the ctviliza-
tion of the time and country. Not on
ly has polygamy lost its attractions,
but monogdmy is growing into disfayor.
a similar state of things is recorded OF
Rome under Augustus, who found IL
necessary to put series OF penalties
upon celibacy and prevent unmarried
persons from inheriting their parents
property. So that, in the words of Plu-
tnrch, sfthe Romans married to be heirs,
not to have them.n II was mt n time
when the eternal city was rolling in
riches. Dissipation and extrayagnnce
were SO rife that sumtuary laws We're
enacted. ~!
Al the same time the fashion of dress
adornment had been carried to an un-
parnlleled height. Compare this state of
things with that which has prevailed In
Paris for years and which is now mani
fest in New York. ConcubiRngei one
of the consequences, and now the prodi-
gal lorette eXcites the envy and patron
ICES the grand Indies of the city. Public
celibucy is private shame. True, we
have not yet reached the climacteric of
Paris and London indecency. We have
no Teresa, Olympia, Anonyme, or De
BerPsford, with which to turn the heads
of our young spenthrifts, and out-daz-,
zle the women of fashion with their own
tnwdry grandeur. Our Louisns, Madel-
zines and Josephines have a more pri-
vate role as yet. They have their little
crowd OF admirers. They strip their
friends" ofa few paltry hundreds only,
and, instead of giving grand select balls
to distinguished personages, they more
modestly content themselves with n
box ut the Academy and a petit SOupeI.
at Delmonico's. But the tendency of
the times is in the same direction. The
parlor and drawing-roOm attractions
grow feebly less, while the coarser Ias-
cinAtions of the casine and the green
room increase. This very week we are
shipping three hundred wives to the
Pacific coast for the market, said to be
waiting for this article of merchandise.
What shall we do about it? Shall our
fair and fashionable maidens initiate
the wives and daughters of the wicked
French capital, and compete with these
perilous sirens, by approaching nearer
to them, and so defeating them by their
own weapons? Or shall they leave II
TO time and returning reason? Perhaps
little more motherES like plainness,
economy, and usefulness might wean
the men from this false worship; or
mayhap, 'tis just as we'll as II stands.