The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-05-27
SECOND WIVES.
AM Analysis OF tho Aversion Obtaining
to second Eiasrr1aB

An Analysis OF tho Aversion Obtaining
to Second E1srria Hos.
From The London Leader.]
The sentiment Of the age is-not without
reason-opposed to 8, cond marriages.. IL mat
rimony we're essentially the social partnership
which some philosophers would fain make it
Fiji were simply q form Of covenant, binding
the parties to love- honor and obey, till divorce
do part them-ifit were modelled on the plan
ofthat rAtOrmer who wanted to add as aproviso
TO the Prayer Book VOW. $50 long as we both
shall love"-there would be no reasonable OBJ
lection to entering into . second. third, fourth
or fifth partnership on the same elastic foot
ize the view Of the late Adah Menken, that cit
is well TO marry young and often" But, unfor-
tunately' for the reformers and the philoso-
piers, and all the other nice theorists, male
strong -nlinded. society persists in regarding
marriage. aS o much more solemn and spir-
itual contract than this. Much as it may vex
the clear-seeaug intellect OF q Bradlaugh, soci.
element into the business, and making Heaven
the witness Of q contract voluntarily entered
into for eternity. Perhaps society is very
at all-extremely wrong to subscribe to that
palaver about forsaking ell other, and clehving
only unto him or her, as the case may be. No
doubt they OF der these things better in France,
where the legal Gel emony is the principal one,
with church blessings thrown in Gd odtorerl.
II we could only get married quietly and
without fuss, as they do in the opera, where
IN ardent baEsO drags an unwilling soprano to
eide-table, and is on the point Of consum-
mating the business with the ain Of um Notorio
and pad Of blottlng paper. the social econo-
mist would reiolce Meanwhile, however. So
oiety goes ON getting married at the Eagle
and rivetad at the communion table, and &C
eeptinR BLESSING from posse OF parsons,
one assisting the other, with choral force we'll
upin
A.
That eatheat wedding day."
and the organ played out the pair to Mendels-
SOhn's wedding march, and oil the ecolesiasti-
cal pageantry 'complete. It is hard, after all
from the purely social nature Of the proceeding.
Let the bridegroom If he be given to phlioso-
wife's PRESENCE: Let him begin by observing,
sight OF Heaven. and all that;it it's only .fdcon
de pGTier: we havea simply entered into sort
OF partnership, you 4now-hke my ASSOCIATION
with old Jones in the Office Let him attempt
ply he will be able TO estimate the rooted feel
Ing OF society in the matter.
This, then. is the spirit which dictates that
sentimental aversion to second marriages
which Is not the less general in that it is sell
dom put into words. Matrimony being, from
the sentimental point OF view, holy business,
shs 1 ie but IN all ali H tS %
influence over the life to come, the incongrui-
ty, the ihdeceucy may, the very sacrilege-
admittang INTO the spiritual pact more than
Of psychical. polygamy. II take Beatrice"
says Benedick. '.as the one participant in my
veal or woe; take her for time and for eternt-
ty." But III q year or two Beatrice dies, and
then Benedick chooses Laura as the one par
tiopant for time and eternity; and il he sur
wives Laura there is nothing to prevent him
adding athird and fourth to the nrm. Now,
at each betrothment the sanoity OF the busi-
ness falls peg. Nobody enters upon a second
marriage with the same reverence, or earnest
ness, or, ardor with which he contracted
with the estate has bred indifference; the being
at his side is not q trembling, pure little soul,
whom all fhis strong, chivalrous nature rushee
forth to project, but o nice sort of person, who
1s going tU1ook after his servants and see that
his linen fs kept to good order. Even with the
first wife romance ended, by settling down into
Darby 7And-Joa jog-trot sort OF existence;
Witlrthe second one there is not even the ro-
TO BIO out. of count--make love match twice
In their lives, The first marriage is contracted
in the ardor o. youth; the second is mostly 9
solitude, and has been infatuated to the house,
hold order oyer which mistress presides; or
he sees the chance OF wealthy alliance; or he
has property. but no heir. and must needs have
one; or he wants somebody to look after his
httle comforts. There are o hundred meroe-
nary pleas for o second marriage to one plea
OF affection. True love e-.e mean now trne
Darby-and Joan jog,trot- t-seldom survives il
man nfssr thirty. The truest. faith
fullest. hottest. and most blissfully un-
comfortable, love of all is calt-loye, which
quent passions are mere imitation Of this
mot half so absorbing, not q thlrd so blind, not
TENTH so pure. The calf outllves his calf
dom, gets the better Of spooniness, laughs at
over again. But he never succeeds. The
persuade h,mselk8hst he is desperately in love
shs tsd o az ag snss sss
ate-Go mad, edhigrate, blow ont his brains.
perhaps. ont in his inner soul he kno g that
. raging furnace. but tepid as mildest shaving
water; that his pulse would not hear her and
beat had he lain for century dead-indeed, it
does not even quicken now when she enters
and he intends to correct them one day There
is nothing IN his love like the Wild 'adoring
passion Of the school boy; that comes but once
in life, and the love which is bold enough to
propose and caiious enough to treat of settle-
ments Ia mere earthly imitation Ofit
How much baser, then, q second marriage.
which means tftieth lovei IF into the first
there entered some element OF caution, or
moro ignoble shrewdness, the second is Who'll.
1y compounded Of these. add Of sellshness
which is pSfent OF them. The motives which
lead bachelor to propose are mostly single
hearted enough; he really loves the girl. and
Will do all he Gao to make her happy. But the
Midower entefa the race with the intention that
ehe shall make HIM happy. He IL the FIRST
party to be considered, not she. And there are
9ew single girls, and certainly no widows. con-
man, who do not fully understand this. when
woman accepts o wldowers she must Yeel
The secondhand nature OF the bargain.
There iE mo- freshness about II: ali the hloor,s
has been rubbed or; the sighs are yechaassa
Ahe vows are piatitndos, the caresses have Been, ,
rehearsed ts46Fg. WhSG worn out pnm I, fSss fe
human heart is 50 far as lovc-lmakina is CON.
cerned. after ten or fifteen years OF married
lifel Is tsere anything more pathetic thar
forty wooing thir y-three, and counterfeitipc
Che lsnguors OF twentyH Or anything more
cynical than the sight Of Q brieht-eyed maiden
sa01lsknnAA Of n hAarf which han a,,ruispad ~