Pioche daily record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1872-1876, 1873-06-29
THE MARRIAGE QUESTION.


The marriage question is Just now at
tracting unusual attention. 1t interests
everybody. Some want to marry. but
want to be free. Others imagine thew
are married to the wrong person, and
would like to exchange the misery they
have for one they know nothing about.
There seems to be vast amount NJ
acute irritation and diffused discontent
in our present conjugal relations. while
those who want to marry Lut are not
wanted In marriage, and those who do
not want to marry but are wanted and
wooed, keep the waters uncomfortablv
agitated. Doubtless, there are as MANY
happy homes and contened husbands
and wives as ever: but they have an
amiable and admirable habit of keeping
the TACT to themselves, and are not con.
stantly pulling tie marriage relation up
by the roots to see If there is not a nos.
slplllty that its leaves may wither and
ITS branches die. But there is a great
deal OF uneasiness and irritation. Sta.
tistlcs show large increase of unmar-
ried people. Divorces are numerous.
and separations without legal formality
are more numerous still. The number
OF young men who do not propose to
marry is alarming, while not a few,
like Mr.. Knight Of Malta, would like to
marry on time, TO separate when the
marrying freak is over or the gloss of
the relation is worn off. There ia a
certain tlippant and jaunty way of talk
ing about the most sacred of human re.
lations which shows a strange want Of
appreciation of or faith in if, and Zee.
turers elicit applause by cracking Jokes
at the expense of the poor fools who
have suffered themselves to be caught
Ivy its sentimental chaff and crude and
loose notions OF the relations of the
sexes are floating about in society and
finding more frequent lodgment and
plausible advocacy than ever before or
than many imagine.
The marriage question is up, and will
he discussed in spite of all anybody can
do to prevent it. Perhaps the cour-
ageous way of approaching it is the
wisest and best. Nothing is gained by
resisting the inevitable. Let us look
the difficulty full in the face. But a
great deal of the talk on this subject
ouerlooks the altered aspects of modern
society and life, and fails to see how the
changes in our circumstances, customs.
and culture have necessarily affected ali
our relations and economies. Three
quarters of century ago, most men
lived and died where they were born,
Their existence was circumscribed.
Their tastes were domestic. Itwas their
ambition to rear a family well, and
leave them competency; and q fortune
then would hardly be counted large
annual income to-day. Now, every.
body is on the move. We are a nation
OF nomads. We are race of cosmopoli-
tans. Everything is unsettled. Every
body Is on the go. All our tastes,
habits, aud ambitions have altered,
Business is done in another way. The
restaurant, the club and the hotel have
superseded the home for thousands,
The cost for living has trebled, and
comparatively few men can afford to |
support an establishment to correspond |
with their tastes and the exceptions of |
those they associate with, while children |
are regarded as undesirable, if not un-
endurable. So far as woman is con- |
cerned, there has been an industrial, |
social, and intellectual revolution within |
three quarters of a century. Mechan-
ism has changed her occupations and |
turned her adrift. Education has sharp |
ened her faculties, made her diseontent- |
ed with many elements Of her old life, |
and awakened new tastes, wants, and
aspirations. She lives in a new world, |
and is i'll many respects new being. |
Her physique has changed. Obedience
has dropped out of her vocabulary.
Authority has been superseded by attrac-
tion. She pines in what her grand /
mother would have considered a para
dice. All our institutions have been
seriously affected by the ALTERED aspect
OF our new civilization; and it is impos-
slble that such a transformation as some |
now living have witnessed should not |
have materially affected relation so
sensitive as that of marriage, whose |
terms are determined almost solely by |
the feelings, circumstances and charac- |
ters of those who enter into it. If hu- |
man beings were made Of cast-iron, and |
all on one pattern, and subjected to the
same strain and temperature, the prob
lem would be simple enough. But ma
tnre does not turn out men and women
OF that sort and into such circumstances
any more
The first step towards a solution of
daNstioh 10 W
hend its terms. We are in the midst of |
breaking-up period. The old order Of
things Is going to pieces, bat the new is
not formed. We stand midway between
what was and what is to be. Behind us
Is tradition, and before us science. We
suffer from the confusion inevitable to a
transition epoch. The time for read
Justment has not come. But there is no
cause for alarm. The sexes compile
ment each other. Man was made for
woman, and woman for man. Each at
tracts the other by some inexplicable
law, and finds in the other that which |
nothing else can supply, and without |
which all else would be unsatsfying.
The sexes perpetually prophesy each to
the other; and, out Of their ceaseless |
,wooing, all that is best in culture, finest
IN art, purest in enjoyment, most beau
tliul and enduring in literature, and
hollest in religion, come. In some
form, the marriage relation will endure
While civilization survives.
But all that relates to the form and cir |
cumstances of the relation is open for |
reconsideration. In discussing it three
points are to be kept steadily in mind
the affections and tastes and circum-
stances of individuals, the rights and
welfare of society, and the requirements
and culture of children.
But, in most of the discussions, the
sole point considered has been the
tastes, pleasures, and whims of the par
ties Immediately concerned Society is
forgotten, and children are ignored.
Inc idea OF duty is sunk out Of sight in
passion for enjoyment. Marriage
means something more than pleasure.
II means education, in its largest and
nc nooiest sense. 1t means the poetry of
NE, the religion Of the affections. The
real question is, not how to get the un-
married, married, nor the married un-
married, nor the mis-mated paired to
!helr mind, SO much as how to make
me most and best OF relation so inti-