Natchitoches spectator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1867-18??, 1868-04-30
HELPS to Marriage.

l ia1tHeIps to Marriage.
Social philosophers are raising a for
midable alarm at the prospect of the ex-
tinction of matrimony. They have dis
covered in all the great centres of civil
lizationsa decided Discrimination to enter
the holy bonds. This shyness, they af-
firm, is continually growing stronger and
spreading farther. Mankind.is coming
to prefer single blessedness to 'duplica-
ted hliss-the desuitory accords of cell
bacy to helinked sweetness lon gIdrawn
out" of matrimony. Never. since Mil
ler's awful predictions we're uttered,
have they seemed more likely thans now
to be fulfiIled.-Of course, with the ex-
tinction ofsmarriage, the career of HUI
mainly is ended, and the world must
wind up, To stave off this terrible ca
tastrophe, philanthropits and preachers
have set themselves vigorously to work.
Pere Hyacinthe, with devoted3band of
the faithful. is urging the reluctant
French to fall into the ranks of the doub-
|ly best. John Bull, foreseeing IN the
threatened revolution q serious Interrupt
ticn in the supply and demand of British
manufactures, takes high moral. ground
against the evil, and treats it with n
strong solution ofsholy wrath and hard
hind the fashions, improvises, at short
notice, matrimonial scare of the first
magnitude, and then astonishes the
world by organizing a matrimonial sup
port society, which shall pay five hun
dred dollars for every man safely fixed
in the matrimonial moose, and one hun
|dred dollars for every subsequent addi-
ton to the family. We look with lively
interest to see how this Boston notion
will operate. Such a nice calculated
adjustment of the passion of the soul
ought to give the world q new lease of
existence, and postpone the crack of
doom for some centuries. 1t may be
we'll, however, not to rely wholly on new
and untried expcdients. While we urge
forward the work of multiplying mar
riage- fund associations throughout the,
world, let us not cease to heed the indi-
cations of hard, practical, Anglo-Saxon
sense. The supply of this is now more
than usually abundant atthe fountain
head, the British reviews ard press ge-
Morally, being greatly exercised by the
question of marriage and woman's rights
and sphere. AS specimen of the ar
ticle. and addition to the general stock
of helps to narriags, we clip from the
London Review a characteristic pas.
sage. Fit does not assist those who
are lingering on the brink of matrimbny
to take the decisive leap, it may ut least
suggest to those inquiring into the origin
of this supposed decline to look for it in
the primo error of modern culture and
training.
1t is not without some degree of cyni-
cal wisdom that marrying men-men de-
termined to marry at any risk-endeav-
or to shirk one hazard at least, by select
ing q woman of a weak and pliable ma
ture. They trust to mould what she has
of mind to their own, and hope to find
her turn out satisfactorily after careful
and cautious training. The experiments
often succeeds, and the result is q mild
goose-berry wine felicity, which suits
the tastes and tempers of those who care
to indulge in it. Such women can be
thoroughly domesticated, become con-
scientious mothers, and retain, for an
indefinite period, a sense Of pleasure at
nursing a new baby. Their husbands
escape storms of temper, or gusts and
squalls of feeling, and secure for them
selves a cOmpaniouship which, if not
very eievating, is at least tolerable, even
when the. tTrSt bloom of it has worn Off
Indeed, il may be, that in the present
condition of the female mind this plan
is the safest that bachelor can follow.
a marriage of souls is an uncommon
and an unlikely thing. Waiting for
EcOngenial partners is not unfrequentIy
a dreary and a disappointing trial of pa
tience.s The man who undertakes to
make his wife has chances in his favor
above the man who hopes to find one
ready made for him; and, although, it is
impossible, on the principle, to render
the prepared lady quite as perfect as the
woman born to please the more fastidi-
Gus mind, the relative proportion of hap
piness expected may balance the differ
ence. &
Putting aside, as a distraeting ele.
ment, the emotional part of marriage
and its preliminaries, there are two or
three plain matter of fact things which
might assist people in the choice OF
wives. There is, for instance, great
virtue in good breeding. 1t is not alone
we'll that girl should have gone to first
class schools, and have lived in fair
style, but it is eminently in her favor
that her connections are of an old and
refined stock. The saying that man
marries his wife only, and not her rela-
tions, is only true to very limited ex.
tent. He becomes one of the family the