The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1873-08-24
sA ARE THE FEET OF THEM
NEW ORLEANS, SUNDAY MORNING. AUGUST "a 1873


1t is great and deplorable mistake to sup
nose that only the rich eau afford to mary.
Dining with Chief Justice Chase in Washing
ton, some one mentioned that Mr.. - had of
late grown cynical and censorious, because he
was engaged and could not afford to marry.
Well do we remember the remark of the Chief
Justice, that "any young man who can sup
port himself can support a wife-that is, if he
is wise enough to select the right sort of q
person." Mr. Chase spoke from his own per-
sonal experience; for he had married when he
was Young. poor and unknown, and his success
began with his marriage. Take any young
man of average intelligence and industry
lawyer, clerk or journalist-he makes enough
willing to follow Mr. Micawber's philosophy of
happiness: " Income, f100 year; expenses
-t99 19s.-happiness. Income, f100 year !;
expenses. GlOO 1s.-msery." Which, in plain
and yon will be happy spend more than you
make, and you will be miserable.
Our young lawyer, clerk or journalist is not
satisfied to live comfortably-,he, must live
luxurlously. He must smoke the best cigars
drink the choicest wines, wear the most fash
ionable clothes; he must belong to a club, play
billiards, go to the opera he must drive to the
park, when he can ride in the city cars he
must spend his summer holiday at Saratoga or
Long Branch-in short he must live as extra
vsgantly as the idle sons of rich men with
whom he associates. To do this, he must ne
cessarily live beyond his means.
These are the young men who say they can
not afford to marry. They can afford to marry
if they will give up expenses which are always
useless ;el san and often dangerous s.; Addison says
equally qualified for getting money, but it is
in the power of every one alike to practice the
virtue of thrift and believe there are few
own past lives, will not find that, had they
saved all those little sums which they have
spent unnecessarily, they might at present
have bean masters of a colupetent fortune"
70 nj will fha
habit of saving " these little sums (which are
so often unnecessarily SPENT" they will no
longer have to complain that they cannot
afford to marry.
The laws of Sparta required q man to marry
when he became of age; if he did not, he was
liable to prosecution. The salutary effect of
this was seen in the superior morality of the
Spartans over the other people of Greece Ihe
morality of the people of Ireland is one of the
brightest gems in the crown of the " loved
Island of Sorrow" the practice of early mar
measure, to this angelic virtue of chastity.
The pernicious practice of marrying late in
life, which prevails generally among French
men, is of the chief causes of the llcen-
| tousness of that gay and gallant nation. Un-
fortunately, tendancy towards late marriage
has been gradually growing among the Ameri-
can people, especially in our large cities. This
is one OF the most dangerous and disheartening
| signs of the times. 1t arises from the love of
| lnXnry and display which has overspread the
! land and destroyed that republican simplicity
| of life aud manners which was once the glory
and strength of this nation.
| Fathers are unwilling that their daughters
tshould marry poor young men, forgetting that
| they Themselves were poor when they married
| and that their wealth has been amassed by long
years of constant toll. Such fathers should
| remember the answer of Themistocles, when
asked whether ho would choose To marry his
daughter to poor man of merit, or to worth
| less man of AN estate : would pGrfer man
| wilton lu estate tc an estate without u man.
Daughters unwilling to abandon a life OF
ideness and luxury in their fathers house tu
share the fortunes of young men who, though
poor in person, are rich in worth, aud
have that within them which will com
mand success. Such daughters should remem
Der that young lady once refused to marry a
young man on account of his poverty, whose
death mourned by two coutinents-the
noble philauthropist, George Peabody. When
the late Emperor of France was living in pov.
| erty in LONDON, he fell in love with u lady o
rank and beauty, and solicited her hand. The
lady, who regarded him as mere polltlca!
dreamer. rejected his suit, when he uttered
this prophetic remark: MADAME, you have
refused crowd" Few young ladies have M
opportunity of refusing a CROWN" but, in re
fusing young men of talent, industry. aud vir
tue, on account of their present poverty, to ac
cept worthless young men of fortune, they
frequently refuse life of domestic peace anC
happiness for one OF splendid misery.
i The ancient philosophers very wisely defined
marriage to be remedy provided by ProVi
dence for the safety and preservation of youth
We all require sympathy and love, and wher'
can there be sympathy so perfect and love e.
enchanting as that which a true wife feels fo
: her husbands Chateaubriand, in his magni
ficent work, Tie Genius Of Christidnity, gives u
q sweet and affecting description of the Chris
! tan husband and wife "The wife of q Chris
tian is not mere mortal: she is an extrRor
dinary, a mysterious. an angelic being she j
flesh of her husbands flesh, and bone OF hi
} bone. By his union with her, he only take
back portion of his substance. His soul a
well as his body is imperfect without his wife
He possesses strength she has beauty. II
), encounters Affections, aud the partner of hi
life is there to soothe him. Without woman
Q he would be rude, unpublished, solitary. We
i man suspends around him the flowers of life
J, like those honeysuckles of the forest whic
Q adorn the trunk of the oak with their PEI
r. -,oI