Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-04-19
LOVE MATCHES In FRANCE:
How Marriages are Arranged by
Lady Friends.
A widow m In Pretenders-Mate-
rial Agents and Their Inferme-
diaries.

- wv eAAA AZ
rial Agents aud Their Inferno.
diaries.
From the London Times.
Some six weeks ago / met a lady ac-
quaintance of nine, a rich, ugly, witty
widow. did you amuse yourself much
during the carnival:" l asked. mo-
she answered, during the carnival 1
danced, and / am now of an age when
dancing is more of a toll than a plea
sure. 1t is since Lent began that /
have been amused" you follow the
sermons, them" "No, butt watch the
marching past of the pretenders, and 1
have nearly as many as the throne of
France"
P~erceiving my establishment she went
on: 81 see you are surprised, so I will
explain the mystery for you. Lam free,
still young, too ugly not to be amiable,
and l am mistress of n income of 3d.
000f. The emptiness Of the pleasures
of the Carnival made me turn my at
tention to domestic Joys, and after hav-
ing consulted my tastes and my rea-
son, l determined to think of matri-
/ mony. / was imprudent enough to
mention the matter to a friend, the
wife of an ex-high functionary of the
Empire; she seized on the idea, and
snce then not a day passes, whether /
60 out or stay at home, whether / go
to the theatre or return from a prone
made, without my friend introducing
me to some pretender who seems to
have dropped from the clouds. All
tongues, ages and escutchions have al
ready passed before me. The thing
amuses me enormously, but so far, to
the deep despair of my friend, no one
Of the gentlemen she has introduced to
me has pleased me well enough for me
70 permit him TO payments addresses"
l laughed at the story, and left her
with a wish that she might be more for
tunate in the future.
/ had forgotten that conversation,
when a few days after, having received
an invitation to a wedding, / there-met
the wife of the ex-high functionary of
whom the young widow had spoken to
me. "It is that LADY," said one of the
relatives of the bride to me, 'who made
the match; it is she who introduced the
bridegroom to my cousins family" /
t~hereupon recalled to mind the CONVEX
sation with the widow, and other cir
cumstances struck me. / knew that
the lady who had made the match was
left at the fall Of the Empire without
the which her husbands
Office brought in. l knew that neither
she nor her husband had. any private
fortune, and that the latter had no
place on the income OF which they
could live. Yet I IA them everywhere,
l knew hat their house was well or
dered, that their table was well sup
piled. their servants well organized,
and / saw them dressed in such a style
as allowed of their making a good fig
ure in the world.
METHOD IN MARRIAGE.
1t appeared to me that there must be
a certain connection between the mar
rage 1 had Just witnessed, the young
widows story, and the existence OF this
couple. l was confirmed still more IN
the idea by the successive discoveries l
made, from which / learned, after two
or three days Investigations, that three
or four persons of my acquaintance had
been married, as it were, by chance,
and through the friendly and disin-
terested intervention of the same lady.
What threw me out of my reckoning
was that every one assured me the lady
had acted without anymotiveO of interest,
and that 1t was with the utmost diff
Guilty she had been prevailed upon to
accept a cheap artistic souvenir. 1t
seemed to me very strange that a lady
who Ostensibly had no fortune, and
whose husband had no place, could af-
ford to spend her time In making
people happy, and that the conscious
ness of having performed that good ae-
ton could take the place of income and
salary.
At last, by thinking the matter over,
/ came by degrees to the conclusion
that the lady in question belonged to
the pretty numerous category of inter
mediaries employed by matrimonial
agents in France to realize their COM
binations, and l Immediately resolved
to clear up my doubts. To that end l
called upon one of the best known mat
rimonial agents in Paris and asked him
for IN interview. / was very well re-
ceived, and the agent showed himself
quite disposed to satisfy my curiosity.
Chance had served me well. The lady
who had given me the idea of calling
upon him was one of the most active of
the Intermediates he employed.
In France" he said, housekeeping
has become so expensive that most men
hesitate about marrying; at all events,
men no longer marry young IN certain
society. A man must have his position
insured before thinking of marrying,
and when that is done he is no longer
the age when men obey the impulse
of the heart at the expense of the head.
OF ten men who think of marrying,
there are nine who put the question in
the following order: Is she rich, pretty,
healthy, of a good family? Then, for
most men, marriage is first a money
matter, next a matter of self-love, and
finally of domestic peace. The other
questions come after. Hence men do
not fear to apply to me directly, or to
get themselves recommended to me by
a common friend.
HOW IT Is DONE.
80 far as the men are concerned,
things are done very simply. l receive
my client. When / receive him it is
my business to study him deeply
enough to be able to say up to what
point he is elegant, distingue, gallant
and well-bred, or else to what degree
he is awkward, innocent, bashtul, or
ignorant of the habits of society. In
every marriage there are two parts
that of the intermediary and that of
the interested party-and 1 have al
ways succeeded better with men who
have no great advantage to offer, but
who made personal efforts in the cause,
than with men who could do nothing
by themselves.
But it is not SO with young ladies