New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-01-27
PLAYING WITH TIRE.

at is very solemn thing to be married."
said serious mother to her child. 1T IL
"much more solemn not to be-" responded the
judiciOus infant. The latter view Of the
solcmnity of marriage appears to be growing
alarningly popular in the United States. a
few days ago Western paper announced
chat young gentleman and young lady who
were only slightly acquainted were ont buggy
riding, and the young man dcfed his com
panion to stop at the Justices and get married.
She plucldly accepted the gage Of combat
"nOt imagining he would stand his ground -
and he-wbo had made the proposition through
simple sillinoss-cculd not see his way clear to
u graceful retreat. SO the two spirited idiots
stood up and were made one. and drove home
somewhat thoughtfully with marriage GER
tiGcate in their hands that moro than filed
them. They parted at the lady's door with
constrained courtesy, and the Young wife, as
the facetious aBnalist expresses it, has just
"been measured for divorce" ---@ 'fs>a
A Pittsburgh journal records another case
which is just Twice rs silly. Two young men
called upon two sisters, and, il tho course OK
the conversation, the ice of decorum having
melted away before the shafts of that "nOn-
humorous hunorn Of underbred youth which
Howels has so perfectly characterized, the
young people began to dare each other to do
al sorts of unadvisabic things. a defiance to
immediate matrimony was, OF courGo, promptly
made and accepted for the staple jest of
that class Of persons is OF rings and
bridccake. One Of the zaLies went out
for parson, and tie two couples were
married with much giggliDg. OF course, after
q spree like that there was no SAVIOR IN
further conversation, and the husbacds went
home and Che wives 10 bed. In the morning
the clerical hierophant sent in the legal attes-
tation of his last nights performance, and the
humorous Guartette found themselves reduced
to a duo. But that no clement of idiotic abb
surdity should be wanting 10 the event, each
man was married to the others sweetheart,
detail which had been overlooked rs altogether
uninpOrtant in the mad hilarity of the ccre-
mOny.
This monkeyish triling with the most mo-
mert0us matters may seem incredible at first
sight But, in fact, it is the most natural
thing in the world. A young fellow, not much
accustomed to society, positively loses his
senses in the company of lively girls and If
we may believe what the daughters of Eve
dom on that SUMMER side of the world. Some
one once criticised Thackeray for making the
conversation OF his young people so silly.
"Nonsense," replied tho great truth-teller; sit
"cannot be made silly enough" The talk of
young people who are somewhat intimate is not
of much higher order than the narticulate mur-
murng OF n mother to her baby. In those
circles where a knowledge of the world has
brought some idea of self-cOmmand, this anna
bic folly is confined to words. But among the
mass Of youths and maidens of city and coun-
try, iuxtapOsiti0n and high spirits are liable at
any moment to fix caprice in irrevOcable acts.
Nothing but opportunity is necessary for that.
And unless the whole world, outside Of our
limits, is wrong, opportunity is by far too fire.
quent, in the present structure of American
society.
1t cannot be denied that the severity Of our
earlier morals now exists only in tradition.
That earnest and strenuous pie,y of New
England where each man lived as If always
under Divine supervision, has passed away
and has left, it is true, the most faultless
social fabric that exists; but the old asceti-
csm cannot be expected to survive forever,
after the old bigotry is departed. In the piO-
nctr uiNS Oh TIC NtSJ Jutlo WIS toO iuuNh
work to be done to leave any time for the
frivoiites of gallantry. But leisure ard wealth
have come together, and the social life OF our
interior States is more animated and uncOn-
strained than any other provincial society
of the world. Foreign books, foreign
plays, and tho influences of foreign travel,
have broken down the safe barriers of what
our parents called modesty and we have agreed
to call prudery. In our news-stands, in our
streets, in our theaters, you see nothing to
distinguish us from Europe but the language
Our morals have become Continental in all but
the liberty allowed to young girls. Is it not
worth while to consider whether we are to DO
exempt from the application of the lesson that
all advancing civilizations have learned THAT
solitary evenings passed with gentlemen
friends are not the most improving school
of young maidenhood, and that there is basis
of truth in the monkish adage that So'us cum
sofa is not condition favorable to religious
meditation.
4 COOL SUBJECT