The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1868-11-18
From the London Saturday koview.
d. Mesalliances,

J
round his neck for life, n girls is simply
destruction. The natural instinct with
all women is to marry above themselves !:
and we know on what physiological ba-
sls this instinct stands, and what useful
social ends it serves. And the natural
instinct is as true in its social rs in its
physiological expression A woman's
llun"r !, IN her husband; her stains, her
social life; are determined by Ills and
even The lew women who, having made
i 5.s: ::.a.r:agr, have nerve and c!.arac.
ter enough to sci themselves free from
the personal association, are never able
thoroughly to regain their maiden
place.
There is always something about them
that clogs and fetters them; always q
kind Of aura Of a doubtful and depressing
kind that snrrodnds ahd Influences them:
II they '::s3e not strength to FREQ them
selves, they nevertcease to feel the mis-.
take they have made until the old sad
process OF degeneration is accomplished,
and the 'grossness Of his nature has had
strength drag her down. After a
time, if her ladyhood has been 0! sns
perticial kind only,5a woman who has
married beneath herself may ease down
into her groove. and be like tllc man she
has married; if however, she has snfli-
cient forco to resist outside influences,
she will not sink. but che will never
cease to suffer. She has sinncd against
herself, her class, and her natural in
stincts and 80 has done substantially a
worse thing than the boy who married
his mothers maid. -
Society understands this, and not un-
justly, il harshly, pnnishes the one willie
IL let's tho other 60 scot free so that tho
woman who makes mcsaliance suffers
on every side, and destroys her life al
most as much as the woman who goes
wrong. All this is as evident to parents
and elders as that the sun shines. They
understand the imperative needs Of So
cial life, aud they know how Reeting the
passions of youth are, and how they,
fade by time and use and inhnmonions
conditions ). and they feel that their first
daty to their children is to prevent a
mesalliance which has nothing and can
have nothing. but nnssion ior M ito . ho.
sis.
But novelists and poets are against
the hard, dull dictates OF worldly Wis
dom, and Join in.the apothcss OF love at
any cost--nll for love and the world
we'll lost; love IN cottage, with night.
iugalcs and honeysuckles as the cIiicf
theatis of paying the rent; Libussa atd
her plowEan; the princess and the
swineherd, &c. And the fathers who
stand ont against the ruin of ll;eir girls
by nIeafis OF esitmble men Of inferior
condition and with not enough to live
on are stony-beartcd and cruel, while
the daughters who take 10 cold poison
in the back-garden If they cannot com,
pass q secret Honeymoon or an open
flight have all the sympathy and none
OF the censure. ~ '''.H' '.l
Tie cruel parent is the favorite wbin-
ping boy Of poetry and fiction and vet
Which il likeiy tt; he tho better on,de-
reasor, or passion cxner;ence o. ;anor.
ance ? calculation or mpulse2 2 maturity
winch can judge, or the youth which
can only feel2 There would be no hest.
tation in any other case, than. that of
love bnt the love instinct is generally
considered to be superior, to every other
consideration, and to be obeyed MS q, di.
vine voice, no matter at what cost or
CONSEQUENCE. t..
The ideal Of lite, according to some
is founded on early marriages. BIZ,
men are slower in the final se,,inp a Of
their character than women, and one
never knows how n voutfg fellow of
twenty or SO will turn ont. 1fbe Is de.
won't !ioEw is he may be an infid.l At forlv !
if, under home Influences, hc is tempers
ate and pure, when these are withdraw
he may become q rake OF tie fastest
kind His temper, morals, business
power, ability to resist temptation, ali
are. as yet ,nchohte and ttndefined ;noth
ing ijs sure and the girls fancy that