The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-09-10

THE QUESTION HUMoRoUsIY CONSIDERED.


"Corpeiius O'Dowd," in the new number Of
BIsckwood. discusses the question of marriage 10
Q pleasant way. We Gull few passages:
ls life really life IL one must pass 1t on the
tight ropes IL existence worth having, where Il
Is eternsIly q question Of balancing -swsying to
this side, and bending TO that?
lis IL proven that all people have vocation
for marriage. and is coDjugasm per Sc certain to
rsqute those who. TO attain it. must divide be-
tween two what they had already found barely
sufficient for one! These are the simple questions
which we have no need of philosopher to ask or
answer for Us. II one were simply 70 pronounce
from what appears on the surface OF hfe-and
single people, especially the men, have the best
of il. They are more in request among their
friends, available for more attentions, and keep
longer young than their married brethren.
The double. barreled egotism of marriage spoils
many q good fellow, and destroys the charm of
many q delightful woman. The firm, that terrible
psrtD ersbip, crops up at every moment. aud routs
hist glorious spontaneity, that delicious irrespon
slbiity we once remembered.
81 have no patience with those people who
want TO marry on what il is puzzle TO them TO
live sngly upon. They must be moral, forsooth
at the cost OF reducing some unhappy girl TO
ciudgery. on the false pretence-for 1t is fslse-of
loving her.
Why can't they let ii alones'' as the great
master of common-sense said of less eventful
Il have met more pleasant and cempsuiousble
people among the single than the married but
there Is csntiDg notion abroad that marriage is
sort of backbone for good behavior. and so the
curste must be married, and the doctor ought TO
be married. / don't know how far the theory
goes, or whether ladys shoemaker should have
q wife, but Pm sure her coi1eur ought. ~
IL hope we shall soon hear the last of this tire
some controversy for if any man wishes positive
~ TO ascertain, from his personal experience,
whether IL be safe TO marry on 500 per snnum,
let him commit small misdemeanor in Ireland
and be sent to jail for three months. IL his con-
stituiion stands the dietary-the seven ounces of
Cruel and pinch of barley per diem-he may have
bis bans published the day he comes out and GER
tanly there will be nothing in his absorbent sys-
tenn to interfere with his happiness.
But IL is q mistake to suppose that marriage
is q necessity, except to three-volume novel.
am certain that very large number Of people are
not made for that species of comp snionship.
Mind, am not enamored OF Mormonism or spirit
Midwifery, nor have / the slightest sympathy
with Agapemones. What desire to insist on Is,
that our presentdsy civilization incucstes conju.
gslism too ipdiscriminately, and takes most un-
iustihable means to support its position. One Of
these, and the least commendable OF all, Is TO
dispsrage those who are called old maids. have
seen many q timid rider in hunting. field jeered
into riding at fence that cest MIN 'cropper; :
and am convinced that many women are driven
into marriage TO escape the obloquy and sarcasm
of belonging TO that msligned category.
eft is no exaRgeration to say maligned.'
who has, so to say, been q man Of the world,
watching its ways and studying its doings-I
would ask Of him, has he ever met 10 any section
of humanity greater kindness, gentleness aud
patience than amongst these same old maids!
Where has he found more hearty, genial, generous
natures! where sound views OF life dlshgured by
fewer preiudices? where more thorough charity
in discussing the motives! where, in one word,
less Of those very attributes by which II has plea
sed the world to character re this class! II Is
of faoE IN call wifnaoaoa 70 What 4 "a
but one ] viii cite, because she eminently repre-
scented all that have 30 feebly attempted to pic.
ture and IL her genius might seem to outshine
the luster Of her personal qualities, II 10 only to
those who had not the happiness-aud 1t was
happiness-of her intimacy. am talking Of Miss
Edgeworth, and il is well worth all the weight Of
the yesrs IL obliges to have met and known her.
81 will not affirm that marriage could have
spoiled such a nature, but ! will say IL could not
have bettered il. Nor is II q small part OF the
matter that at eighty she was the guiding spirit,
the delie bit and the charm Of that family which
derived glory from her name and happiness from
her presence.
worth and Miss Nightingale among its members,
women need shame to belong
81 have done. / will only add that, instead Of
hespiDg rdicule on the condition Of unmarried
women, and, out Of sheer derision, driving them
70 accept sDybody-anything-as husbands, let
us accord them all the Difference and regard We
bestow on others; and let us not forget. 10 the
presence Of some old maid whose qualities Of
mind and nature have charmed us. and whose
traces Of beauty are not few nor faint that II we
do deem ma'Timony the great prize 10 life, II is
living shame to our sex that such q woman should
be single.
"If / have wandered from my text Of Mar
risges on Starvation Allowance" it Is simply be
cause have not that oyerweening impression OF
coriugslism that / would recommend any one to
face beggsry 10 attain 1t. any more than would
advise man TO lay out his last shilling to buy 9
ticket in the lottery"
VIM. 8. Pennington, son Of the late Georgt
Pennington, and secretary of legation at Psri;
nndsr President Lincoln. died on the 4th AZ hi,