The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-10-10
Thoughts About Marriage.
(Albert Rhodes, in Galaxy for September

[Albert Rhodes, i'll Galaxy for september.l
In some instances States have stimu-
lated marriage by special laws. The
Athenians made an enactment which
prohibited unmarried men from hold
ing places of trust and honor in the
public service. Another law is said to
have been made by the same people, in
the interest of national virility and the
public health, forbidding women to
marry before complete development,
and men before the age Of thirty five
also recommending the most suitable
season OF the year for the ceremony,
which was usually the month of Jam
uary. They were particular, too, not
to contract marriage within certain de-
grees OF cOnsanguinity. These laws
and customs of the Athenians show that,
were they living to-day, we would
have but little to teach them on this
subject.
IN the United States marriages are pro-
bably mOrenumerOusinp proportion to the
population than in any other country
| with the exception of Ireland, which
is an indication of fair morality. As a
rule, poor people marry in all countries
regardless of the considerations which
often restrain those who are in easy
circumstances. In this the poor man
comes nearer the natural one. Hungry,
he eats; thirsty, he drinks; desiring a
wife, he marries one, and the joined life
under favorable conditions is simple,
regular, and natural. When the man
! gets more light, difficulties rise before
him, and marriage assumes the proper
ton of a great question. In agricultu-
raj districts there is general marrying
in all classes, for there is more simple
| ity of life, which always tends to nu-
merOus marriages. Throughout the
country the morality and regularity of
the married life attract the middle-class
people and thOsewhO adhere to the princi-
pies Of christianity, whetherrich or poor.
These comprise the body of the nation,
and to them are cOnfded the govern
ment of this republic and the purity of
its morals, for at least long period.
The falling Off in marriage is found
in the centers of population, where
the needs of life press hard. The old
fashioned Observation-Disclosures has of late
years been losing ground in these
places. Thirty or forty years ago it was
plain sailing; gibbous hat and the
Italian opera were unknown all worked
for living, and none were rich as COM
pared with those of to-day. 1t has be-
come evident that in cities Hymen is
| losing his power; yet the goddess who
| came out Of the sea-fOam continues to
exercise her wOntcd charms over men,
though they refuse to. follow Hymen.
There is a hide -and-seek process on the
part of man to avoid supporting the
| woman. which would be to the last de-
gree ungenerous if it were not in some
measure compulsory. Fathers endeav-
or to dispose of daughters to those who
stand upon conditions, and each tries to
shirk the expense of keeping them.
Thus regarded, the woman becomes a
possible encumbranCe to the marrying
man, and almost parasite in her own
family.
A great number of those who live in
luxury in the metropolis make both
ends meet with difficulty. The head of
| the family is stretched on financial
| wheel, which never ceases to turn every
! day in the year. He is pressed for
what he considers the necessaIies of
life, and spends twenty thousand dol
| lars q year. The capital of this man
who spends twenty thousand dollars a
wear, at legal interest, would not per-
haps yield him q third of what he
exDends; thus he is obliged to work
hard for his living, and without relaxa-
ton. He is not in a position to help any
one but himself, however willing he
may be to do so. The young man MAX
ing his way through an ocean of diff
cu1ties, and carrying heavy ballast in
! the shape of clubs and social dissipa-
ton, may like the daughter of the poor
rich father; but he has not the audacity,
even if she were willing to make the
sacrifice, to take her out of her hand
l TO SrnFn
sisting the matrimonial temptation he
has something to say for himself. His
knowledge of life tells him that there
are scarcely any hours of happiness
which are compensation for rasping,
wearing, daily want of means to pro-
vide for every day necessaTies and COM
forts, and that it is not long before do
mestic peace gives way before this ter
rible pressure. 1t is human, too, for the
woman, in unguarded moments to make
| comparisons between her married and
! single life, in which regrets and re-
proaches are implied if not spoken
| when matters reach this point it is the
coup de grace, and domestic felicity is
at an end.
An adviser may say to this young
man, if he wants to marry the poor rich
| girl, go West; but this is counsel he
| cannot, follow. His lot is cast here, and
| through industry he has reasonable ex-
| pectations of ultimately acquiring 0
| modest competency. It would be fool
| iBh for him to give up the bird in hand
| for the two out West in the bush, to say
| nothing of his ikings, which ten to one
favor his present surroundings. Here
| the field of labor is plainly indicated
and he is already in the harness. His
| future being here, he must submit tc
| the conditions of life around him, and
accept civilization as he, finds it. Thus
| reasoning, he turns away from the pool
rich mans sumptuous dwelling with q
sigh; he may not pluck the coveted
| flower. And If the expected bridegroom
| in purple and fine linen, from Lydiar
shores, fails to come, the daughter il
condemned to a life of eelibaey. If tht
father has several such, who wait il
| vain, his house, according to the DutG1
| proverb, becomes like o celler full Of
| sour beer.
There are three issues out of the diff
| culties which involve marriage in the
cities: a simpler mode of life; the in,
| dependence which the woman may &C.
auire in self-support; and the doWry
which concerns the parents rather thar
the woman herself.
In proportion as men and things be
come necessary to mans existence hi
becomes poor. What are regarded IL
| the beginning as luxuries become nee
essaries. Csasar's soldier, who carried
| his worldly possessions of sixty pounds