New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-02-19
TNCONpdTTBTLTJIFS.

capped with her life; but, on the facts being
| brought TO light that the wOu!d-bc murderer
was q man recently divorced, who miotooh
her for his late wife, his search for con
ISOLATION at tho pistols mouth appeared
quito natural and matter-0f-cOursc, and
nothing moro was said about it. VIII
you be kind enough to stand inside p
one Carolinian used to say TO another; 1t
"is the gentleman on the othcr side Of the
" street that | wish to sho0tp Divorced pe0-
pie, however, are not expected to exercise
. such delicate consideration. On the Same
| evening, young mechanics wife in Phila-
delpha called at friends house and asked
! for glass of water, into which, before
drinking, she shook o dozen grains
of morphia, and, lying down, died.
Domestic difficulties was the ex-
PLANTATION, at which everybody shrugged their
shoulders and went on their way satisfied.
| Our English cousins would doubtless ascIibc
such incidents as these to the peculiar civil
zation of America" by which they lately
accounted for the phenomena Of Fisi5S career
| and end. Civilization, we opinc, has nothing
! to do with the matter; it is the marriage yoke
that is ont Of gear as much in England as with
rs, and needs to be strengthened or broken
altogether. Indiana courts are not the worst
! symptoms of the connublal disease; the
doclicts of the criminal courts are crowded
with records of ill-assOrted matches and their
bloody end, from Mrs. Fair shooting her
affinity in the arms of his wife and composing
a play with tho halter hanging over her, to
the Rev. Sclby Watson putting summary
end to his wife because she was pecyiSh and
provoking.
What is the matterF Orr grandfathers,
sober Scotchmen, or Purtans perhaps, or mid
dlc-class Englishmen, and their wives had no
better natures than we. Business was as eX-
asperating, the kitchen or nursery rs trying to
the temper; there was many n hot domestic
brOil; there was sco!ding, nagglng or hen
pcckiDg in all it's shades, just as there is now.
But there were no divorces, no murders or
morpha. The Earring couple, after the
blaze of wrath was over healed their
differences beside the baby's cradle, or
found points of cOnsanGuinity in lay
ing in the Winter provisions; or it may
have been that over the little grave of the
child they lost in other years they kissed
again with tears. Even the faithless Oiivias
and Lcanders OF Wycherly's day, after they
had ruiled it in town a while, went back to
the country, forgave each other, and began
new honeymoon uneXceptiOnably pastoral
and vir:uous. Human nature was Just the
same then rs now; husbands in trunk hose
and knco brooches were no less apt TO be
tyrannical or stupid or lacking in magnetism
than now when they wear trowsers the women
were vixenish or silly or ficklo as our wives;
why, then, did they hold the marriage bond
l. tIoir fn.ir
honor or their pIcty, that we lack or is the dis
satisfaction of wives (for they are the plaintiffs
in this CASEY nothing but a disease of educa-
toni Marriage TO men is very much what 1t
was two hundred years ago, and they usually
hold TO their bargain, good or bad, as persist
emily More men than women outgrOw their
lfe's partner intellectually, not only because
they are generally developed further, but be-
cause they oftcner marry for beauty. a
man of fine instincts and aesthetic tastes
finds himself yOhed to q duh animal, or the
downright nationalist, who proves every step
as he goes, to an eternal child, who will be
jerky and silly in white hair one Of those
unfinished scrawls Of humanity which Nature
writes currente catdmo, and fills the world
withal for our growth in endurance. Yet,
gcther. is this because q mans sense Of obi
CATION TO an incurred bond is stronger than a
woman'sf 1t is women who proclaim it intol-
cradle, women who propose it shall be limited
to one or four years.
II is noticeable that these complaints here
and in England come only from the cities.
In the great sweep of social life through the
country the marriage relation is as absolute,
as free from faint as ever. The secret we be-
lievo to lie in the differing education given to
young girls from that of their grandmothers:
assuredly broader, but whether as sweet and
wholesome is another Question. A young fell
low in New York or Philadelphia, century
ago, attracted by the blue eyes or sunny tenn
per of some Celia or DorOthea, was quite sure
that size had never studied her own inner
economy. She knew as little Of the workings
of her soul as her stomach she was mistress
Of chenille-worl or the harpsichord, but had
never looked into social problems or pas
sional theories. If he married her, she
lived the same objective life to the
end. If their natures Jared, she vented the
bad humor cngendered III her by sulking
or scolding; if she were housewife, got rid OF
it by work: il sho were devotional, by tears
and prayers. In any case it came to tho sur
face. When the storm was over, it was over
Beside this, the higher classes Of men and
women were guarded then from each other by
n certain reticence, stately, decent reserve,
utterly unknown now. Husband and wife wrote