New-York tribune., 1871-03-31
MISPLACED CONFIDENCE.

| restrained intercourse between the sexes which
forms so striking feature of American lie,
the only reply ever made Is that in this way
| men and women come to know each other,
and to find safety in intelligence instead OF
isolation. But every day we see instances OF
faulty in men and women which would
almost seem to indicate that there is no
thoroughly trustworthy system of defense
against social dangers but the closed Hareem
and tho fetter-lOcks of Cluny. The most
select circles of Arkansas and Tennessee are
now violently agitated by the exploits of one
Hardwicke, who seems to have drifted about
the West for the last decade marrying all the
single women who came within tho sphere OF
his acquaintance. And acquaintance in this
case has very wide signifcation. This
Hoosier Lothario had the prompt and practi-
cal habit of sitting down beside eligible-look-
ing women in railway trains, informing them
he was q distant relative, going homo with
them, and marrying them with the greatest
| expedition. If they had any money he gene
| rally managed to get it into his own hands
| in few weeks, and then left his wife in
that mixed state of responsibility and
helplessness called in the Western language
"grass widowhood.n He seems everywhere to
anxious advertisers to thieves making restitu-
| ton, kindly received and no questions asked"
He married maidens and widows with impair
tial alacrity, and his clumsy fctons satisfied
both alike. The rural innocence of Iowa, tho
trusting plantresses of Arkansas, and the wide
awake beauties of Chicago and st. Louis
walked with tho same trusting step into his
open snare. He had apparently but the one
f,,u nd oil ba n al
stranger and talked marriage. His antecedents
were irreproachable, and his intentions per-
fectly honorable. 1t seems impossible that in
an age of journalism any one should be found
so unsophisticated as to accept wandering
adventurer's account of himself as satisfactory,
or that in this day of wOman's enfranchisement
a mere willingness to get married should be
taken as an all sufficient proof of worth. But
the exploits of this matrimonial vagabOnd were
founded exclusively upon this basis no one
knew anything about him, and he always
promptly proposed marriage.
IL is this facility of approach which so
amazes foreigners in their observations of
this country. Nowhere else in the world is
stranger admitted to the domestic circle of
decent people without some knowledge of his
position and character. The strictest inquisi-
ton is made into his standing at homo before
he is given any of the privileges of intimacy;
and, in o matter SO important as marriage,
| the law comes in to aid the caution of indi-
| viduas, and to establish every circumstance
of his birth, residence and social relations.
| An instance occurred recently in Paris, where
| q young man. who had committed the indis-
cretion of being born in America, could not
be married at the Mayors office because he
had no proofs of the death of his grandfather.
| So profound is the astOnshment of travellers
over our neglect of these salutary precautions
that they cease to discriminate between de-
grees of impropriety, and indulge in the Wild
est vagaries of recollection when they get
home. Mr.. Maurice Sand. in his romance of
Miss Mary, makes his heroine, young New
York belle, pick up gentleman whose ap-
pearance pleases her on ferry-bOat, and
drive him over to HObOken for day in the
woods; on coming back, finding she has
| forgotten her latch-key, she takes him
to a fashionable hotel, engages two apart
ments and the two hail fellows pass
the night in adjoining rooms, in that fearless
innocence which is characteristic Of American
manners and morals. This is so absurd and
fantastic that it needs no criticism or COM
ment. Yet Mr.. Sand affirms that all these
things happen daily in New -York-and he
passed several months here, well received and
Hospitality entertained in society. The ex-
travagancies of French fcuilletonist are per-
haps not worthy of especial notice but what
shall we say Of Mrs. Stowe. who introduces to
us young lady of good position who makes
an acquaintance in street-car and gives him
her card at her own doorstepf There is no
one more accurate in her observations, or
more conscientious in her statements than the
author Of "0ld Town Folks !" and when she
draws picture of contemporary manners like
this, it is not enough to denOunce it as an alb
surdity or a libel. To prove that it is neither
the one nor the other, it is sufficient to say
that Mrs. Stowe wrote it. 1t is sketch of
| the manners and customs of a certain grade of
social culture among us. Of course, it Is
not the highest and best, for that is as
near perfection in its union of ease and deco
rum as anything that ever existed-nor even
the most fashionable, for in that circle the
necessities of the hour are more and more
recognized by a continual approach to the
restraints of Continental society. But it can
not be denied that there is q wide area Of not
very well defined social territory, where the
freedom of simpler state of development
has survived, changing into Objectionable
license with the progress of wealth and luxury.
| The people who send voluminous accounts Of