, 1873-06-29

LOVE AND L0CKsM1THs.
| The experience Of mankind has been that th,
! combined efforts OF fond parents, saplent law
have been una7ailing when Cupid has fairl,
made elege on the domestic citadel, with pret
ty girl rs willing prize in case he can succeed
! Cupid's arrows are Of a kind that penetrate thu
thickest walls his atrategies defy the most per
sistent watchfulness, and his rope-1adderf
! reach to the top Of the highest Man
sard. The New York Legislature seems to
have ignored all this, and has very
absurdly tried to put up new barriers in the
way Of true love, that never runs smoothly at
the best. The legislative wise-heads, forgetful
OF the days when heart-beats were quicker or
oblivious to tho joys of helf-forbiddan court
chip, havo undertaken to disturb the romance Of
the youth OF New York State. They have passed
law authorizing clergymen to adm lister oaths
to ali persons who seek to be joined in marriage
The matrimonial candidates are now re-
quired to testify as to their proper age,
residence, responsibility, and such other cir
cumstances as tho New York Legis|a-
ture think should constitute good grounds
for getting married. Tho new Law aays that
false testimony under these circumstances shall
subject the preyaricator to the punishment for
perjury. What the New York Legislature hoped
to accomplish BY making special application OF
false caring to the Of those who are deter
mined to get married in spite Of aga residence,
parental refusal Of consent, and all the other
impediments to matrimony which are apt to
bcset 1ove-lorn couples, it is not easy to dis
cover. But, if it was supposed that this new lav
will keep people from getting married who
have not husbands or wives living, when they
have made up their minds to join deetinies for
better or worse, the conclusion was based On
falso deductions from the experience Of society,
or very shallow observation OF passing events.
The law may provo to bo an encouragement for
perjury, like the. income~ta1 or the iron-clad
oath, but il will mover be permitted to come be-
tween two hearts that beat as one, or two souls
with but single thonght, and that On natri-
mony. There is reason to predict that
convictions under this new law will
bo very ra1e Jurics have not the characteristics
Of stern, stolid, Brutns-like law-makers, and the
majority Of these peculiar groupings Of twelve |
would listen with acute sympathy to the career
II love which had oyerleaped the barriers of !
New York legislating, and attained the fond con-
of it's longngs in spite Of oaths, and |
justices, and county clerks, and State legisll.- |
ors. Tho violation Of the oath in their case ]
would be regarded es fully counterbalanced !
y the greater sanctity Of the marriage oath |
hua incurred under tho threat Of society |
md in fear Of tho .minions Of the law. The
is, that the whole problem would be
solved by New York unmarried
ouples going over to Jersey, just as New York
married. couples step over to Connecticut to get
eleased. The Gretna Greens are not limited to
|cotland, and love has not yet ceased to laugh
t Iocksmitha.
The difficulty which Now York legislators will
nd in keeping the sexes apart when they want
0 get married finds counterpart in the
fort Of English lawyers to keep the1n
ogether when they hnve determined to
o asunder. How to control the mania Of elope-
,ents with married women has long been
erplexing question with the British authorities.
he law Of England does not punish man for
bducsing another mans wife, and the lawyers
ave been casting about for Some other means
IT reaching The purloiners OF domestic nffeo-
ons- An ingenious attorney recently found
recedent under the application Of the common
~, in which man who had stolen an
ther mans wife - had been punished
or stealing eoffee-pot and pair
candlesticks, which the guilty pair
ad taken with them. Thel Was an effort to
pply the Bame principle to the case Of an actor
ho had induced tho wife Of West-End halter
London to elope With him. The hatter's wife
id taken her jewelry with her, amounting to
200 OF $500; and, when the runaways had