National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-03-25
THREE EP0cHs, AND THEIR COST.

CFrom the Chicago Tfibune.1
There are three events In the history ofsvsry per-
son which are presumably Of considerable import
ance-birth, marriage and death. Very few pse-
pie At the time Of birth take any immediate inter.
est In that event. slthough, for the practice Of
law. real estate operations, female erusades sup
port Of families and other necessities, 10 IN in
dispcnsable prerequisite. In the second event,
every person, except old bachelors and old maids,
takes . peculiarly lively interest. In the third,
few, except the very good people, have anything
but remote Interest, and the remotef the event
the more Satisfactory Il ID likely TO prove. Some
people regret they were born, and wouldn't have
but most people are thankful for Il.
Some people regret that they were married: but
most people are thankful for H. Whether any
one regrets that he died % pusxle not likely to
be solved until telegraph esmmnnieatiou can be
sstablished with the invisible world. With the
amount OF interest that ID taken IN these three
events, Il may be still more Interesting to know
what these three events cost, asd how much money
Is spent In this country annually in getting born,
getting married, and getting buried. According
to the last .nsus thers were as births In the
United States. II 10 safe to presume that the
doctors bill for bringing the youthful stranger
into this world will average ~. The nurse 10 m
expensive luxury, and, ~ she - the autoerst OF
the household from. three to four weeks, ct the
average Of t2o per week. Il 70 safe to Get down 90
- her allowance for taking care Of the child,
fighting the doctor, keeping the mother quiet, and
the patsrfamiliss under subsection.
In this sstimats Ne do not -ineluds the beer
which the professional nurse consumes, ~
that % . necessity Of the sitastion, the money
value Of which can hardly b computed; neither
the wear and tear Of the hoassheld serenity which
this useful creature occasions during the BRIEF su-
premacy. There IL ono moro item which enters
the birth expense. Every woman has pride in
her offspring, and, II she has one vanity moro
pronounced than another, It 10 that her baby shall
have Is complete end elegant . troassaa ~ Mrs.
Jones. The trosseau, Therefore, may be set down
at t7s. Then there are othar little ineidentals,
like rubber rings, rattles, soothing syrup and
baby carriages, which will swell the whole amount
to about taoo per head. Multiply this BY 1,loo,-
%75, the number Of births - oct down In the Gen.
sus, and the reader will ut once sec that the an
nual crop Of babies costs the country tcD, oo5,-
90. Having been born and paid for, It Is the
next duty ofthis costly human being to get mar
risd. 1850, :, -.
The number Of marriages aunually IN this coun-
try 10 not given in the census, and We can only
get ct It approximately. In Cook county there
were e,&lo licenses issued in 1873 by the clerk.
This gives one marriage 70 every seventy Of the
population. Applying this ratio to tho entire
population Of the country there are about 500 900
marriages psr snnun. For every marriage there
are certain sbsolate nsssssities Of cash nature.
The minister must b paid his fss averaging. say,
~. Trousssaus are cheap ct ESQ., An ordinary
wedding supper will average "a, and the flowers
. like amount. The nsWly.married pair will be
lucky II their wedding.trip does not cost them
o1oo. Almost sxsry one On afford . Is wedding.
ring; and thss iadtspsnsshjs little aoeansat, the
license, IL the cheapest, although the most In