Smyrna times., 1868-11-11
Marriages on Starvation Allowance.

C0rnenuS " DoWd, IN late number OF |
Black,00odS Mdgdziae discusses the question |
" Marriages on Starvation Allowance" i'll
pleasant way. We Gull few passages =
I" | have no patience with those people who |
want to marry on what it is puzzle to them to
live single upon. They must be moral fOrsOth ! |
at the cost OF reducing some unhappy girl to |
drudgery, on the false pretence-for it is false
OF loving her.
"Why can't they let it alone % as the great
master OF cOmmOn-sense said Of a less eventful
contingency.
CT F., y ,.Io. uIuiU PHEASANT UUuIpam.UIl-
able people ameng the single than the married;
| but there is canting notion abroad that mar
rlage is a sort of back bone for good behavior,
and so the curate must be married. L do not
know how far the theory goes, or whether
! lady's shoemaker should have aWlte, but III
sure that her coiffeur ought.
! " hope we shall soon hear the last of this
tiresome controversy; for if any man wishes
positively to ascertain, from his personal expo
rience whether it be safe to marry on GlO0
per annum, let him commit small misdemea-
nor in Ireland and be sent to jail for three
months. If his constitution stands the dietary
the seven ounces Of cruel and pinch OF barley
per diem-he may have his bans published the
day he comes out and certainly there will be
nothing in his absorbent system to interfere
with his happiness.
but it is q mistake to suppose that mar
riage is a necessity, except to a thrce-volume
novel. [ am certain that very large number
of people are not made for that species Of COM
panionship. EIind, | am not enalnored Of
Mormonism or Spiritual-wifery, nor have | the
slightest sympathy with AgapemOnes. What
l desire to insist on is, that our present day
civilization inculcatcs cOniugaliSm too indls-
criminately, and takes most unjustiiiable means
to support It's position. One of these, and the
least commendable Of all, is to disparage those
who are called old maids. | have seen many
a timid rider in hunting field iccred into rid
ing at fence that cost him crOpper
and | am convinced that many women are drlv-
en- into marriage to escape the OblOquy and sar-
casm of belonging to that maligned category.
''lt is no exaggelatiOn to say "maligned.
| would ask any one who has seen much oflife
, who, has, SO to say, been a man OF the world
: watching its ways and studying its dOlngS-l
+ would ask him has he ever met in any section
= of humanity greater kindliness, gentleness anC
patience than among these same old maids
Where has he found more hearty, genial, gen.
erous natures? where sounder views of life,
disfgured by fewer prejudiccs? where more
thorough charity in discussing the motlvess
; where in one word, less of those very attri
!, butes, by which il has pleased the world tC
y characterize this class? 1t is no part of my
y task to call witnesses to what [ say; but one
. will cite, because she emlnently represented al
} that have so feebly attempted to picture
. and if her genius might seem to OutShine tht
!. lustre of her personal qualities it is only t
u u those who had not the happiness--and it wa
\ | a happinCsS-Of her intimacy. L ar talking
- !. of Miss Edgeworth.
= 81 will not affirm that marriage could have
!, spoiled such nature, but will say it could
= not have bettered it. Nor is it a small part o
y u the matter that at eighty she was the guidini
- spirit, the delight and the charm OF that taml
y which derived glory from her name and happi
, ), ness from her presence.
. is it to a class which numbers Miss Edge
= worth and Miss Nightingale among its mem
- bers that women need feel no shame to belong
10 81 have done. | will only add that, instea
j., of heaping ridicule on the condition of unmaI
, ried women, and, out of sheer derisiOn, drivln
70 them to accept anybody-anything- huS
- bands let us accord them all the Difference an
~ regard we bestow on others and let us nc
@ o. forget, in the presence of some " old maid
:; whose qualities of mind and nature have charm
u ed us, and whose traces of beauty are not te'
o. . nor faint, that if we do deem matrimony tn
q, great prize in life it is shame to our sex thu
u u such a woman should be single.
- "If have wandered from my .oXt of " Ma
o riages on Starvation Allowances" it is simp
n0 because have not that overweening imprcssiC
of conjugalism that l would recommend al
ne one to face beggary to attain it, any more thf
III | would advise a man to lay out his last sh
es ling to buy ticket in the lottery.
rp -----SSS~~-
in CURIOUS TERMINATION OF A MURDER TRIA
les "A murder trial met with curious termin
hrs ton in Henry county, Illinois, last week. IL
nd case was the trial of man named Hamllt
nit on an indictment for murder A jury was Ell
'rn pannelled and the witnesses for the prosecute
examined, showing clear case OF murd
lal against the defendant AT this stage of t
at proceedings the counsel for the defence ask
i've leave to enter plea Of guilty fmanslaught
he This was refused. The prisoner then plea
re- ed guilty Of murder as charged in the indie
ext ment The court accepted the plea and d
md charged the jury, there being no question
ta- guilt for them to pass upon, and here IS whe
)ur the case assumes an alarming shape. L
ent General Assembly of that State at its last 81
ua- sion passed law that in all eases where telo
no. are punished with death the jury may return
by verdict of guilty, and as a part OF the verd
un- are required to determine whether the prlso
er shall suffer death by hanging, or be impr
IS oned in the pententiary for life, or for not Il
and than fourteen years, and that no person sh
be sentenced to death by any court unless t
Jury shall have so found in their verdict up
,er- trial. The Judge held that upon a plea
OK guilty the court could not sentence prison
) a to DEATH but must imprison him for one OF t
the terms named in the law. This construction
salt the law makes it easy to avoid the death pc
m atty in Illinois in any conceivable or In t
,ral most aggravated case Of murder.
ith -" A.,
and Mrs. William Duke, of Macon county, All
ide hung herself last week on account Of disco
an. with her husband. They were married Il
in year, at the ages respectively of eighteen a
put sixteen. She suspended herself from one
tier the ioists in the house, and when cut do
her little babe ay TRANQUILITY sleeping in a C
die near her feet.
ling The ex- Queen of Spain left behind her ]
Ting carriages, several splendid Arab and Engl
horses, as well as the finest COLLECTION OF mu
one in Europe. One vehicle, that which annua
one conveyed her Majesty to the opening, OF
are Cortes is marvellous specimen of gliding o
ong carving. -