Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1873-05-03

though the lover himself has not the
leisure to attend to them.
Thus, for example, everybody is puz-
zled by the extraordinary caprices OF
love-making. The ladies who say in
novels that they cannot understand
"what he could see in her" are general
ly held up to ridicule as obviously
blinded by iealously; and yet their
want of perception is not only sincere,
but is shard by perfectly impartial
spectators. When we see the way in
which marriages are brought about in
the world, we wonder that the pursuit
of match making should be found so in
teresting by amiable persons. OF course,
matchmaking as variety of fortune
hunting is only too Ineligible; but
there is a matchmaking of a much less
sordid variety. All amiable women take
the keenest delight in attempting to
pair off their friends and relations ae-
cording to their own views of the ftaess
Of things and yet they always meeting
with the strangest and, at first sight,
themostunaecountable disappointments.
The man Of intellect has an extraordin-
ary taste fol stupid women the hand
some man Of fashion is carried off by q
poor, ugly, and commonplace women,
ten years older than himself the pom
pous prig secures the brightest and live
lest of her sex fortune-hunters attract
poetesses, and poets marry wives who
can do nothing but mend their shirts.
Such strange contrasts have led to the
development of the plausible theory
that people are attracted rather by
qualities complementary than by quail
ties similar to their own. This doctrine,
however, fails by being too comprehen-
sive. We must admit that like ofton
attracts like; and if we add that like
also attracts unlike, we have a theory
which explains nothing, because it ex-
plains every thing Every match that
ever was or ever will be made may be
brought under one category or the other;
but, until we can give some reason for
telling beforehand which set of caus IS
is likely to be operative in a given case,
we are no nearer an explanation than we
were before. The only general rule ut
which we have been enabled to arrive
by experience is the rather discoura =
ing one that people whom we like al
ways marry people whom We dislike.
Friends seem to have-a perverse deli Int
in forming new combinations which may
be discordant as possible with their
ancient ties. We do not, however, sJe
our way to erecting any philosophic il
theory upon this experience, unless as it
goes tn illustrate Artemus Wards dee
trine of the "cussedness" of things in
general,
Mr.. Herbert Spencer's analysis NJ y
perhaps help us to understand some Of
the conditions of the problem, though
the philosopher has yet to arise WHO
will be able to tell us, from the inSpec-
ton of a young lady or gentleman, what
will be the character of his or her future
partner In the first place, it is to e
remarked that some of the elements
which he describes do not enter into tie
passion in many cases, or at least 90
not enter into its earlier stages. Sc :
esteem, for example, is the reward Of
successful love-making, and strengthens
the passion when it has once been form
ed; but it cannot be the primary cause.
Mere contiguity is very often a sufficient
explanation of the phenomenon. Aman
and woman, brought together in Robin-
son Crusoe's island, would almost IN
evitably fall in love, however udpromi8-
ing their characters might be; and,
though London is very unlike desert
island, there are frequently situations,
even in the most crowded societies,
where conditions substantially similar
are reproduced There are circufl-
stances under which it would be almost
breach of good manners not to indulge
! in little Irritation. A human being
has such variety of strong feelings in
state Of solution that any object will
be sufficient to determine their crystal
lization. This is, indeed, the primary
axiom on the subj We have all a
vast amount of disposAble emotion; we
all long to admire and to be admired ;
we are grateful for compliments; we
wish to have something to call our own ;
we want our sentiments to be confirmed
by sympathy and therefore, when once
any accident has, SO to speak, drawn the
sluiccs, whole torrent OF emotion
rushes into the channel provided for it,
and we attribute to the one external and
assignable cause what really results
from our own states of feeling. because
particular match has exploded the
magazine, we absurdly argue that no
other match would have done equally
we'll. We set up the first idol tat
comes to hand, and suppose that its
perfections are the sole cause of our
worship, when, in fact, the desire to
worship something has prepared us to
PROSTATE ourselves before any shrine
that offers itself. Love being a COM
pound Of so many forces, any one which
is set in action draws all the rest after Il
by the principle Of association. But
all thisdoss not answer the question as
to how our choice is irst determined.
A young gentleman in London may see
some hundreds of Young ladies before