New-York tribune., 1874-08-25
OLD-F4SHIONED NOTIONS.

n gOOu ueal DOrSu, not TO say ulSSuSteu
with the drift of current intelligence and sick
of encOuntering in every newspaper of our
heap, in adipose Typography, "The B.-T.
Scandal" we glanced despairingly at sheet
printed far down In Texas There we read
with something of COldstream indifference,
that in Galveston, Aug. g. 1874, Mr.. John
Crotty and Matilda Baker, maiden, were
married in St. Mary's Cathedral. Crotty was
nothing to us, and we, be it admitted, were
nothing to Crotty Matilda was nothing to us,
save as we are general admirer of the sex;
and we should have thought no more of this
| matrimonial matter if somebody who cheer
| fully signed with three stars had not tackled
a communication TO the nuptial advertisement.
1t was really kind communication, not to say
gushing. 1t was in strain of the highest hymen-
cal rapture. 1t began thus, in the finest of lam
guage: "FrOm the rOseate blush of morn to
the melancholy umber of gathering night,
"may the pathway of Jack CrOtty and his
sparkling bride be attended with all that is
"iOyous aud elevating in the cOnnubial rela-
tion!" AS we read this we felt gOod-natured
and said "Amen!" softly and tenderly. We
really do hope that Mr.. and Mrs. Jack Crotty
will have life Of the old sort, with the usual
variety of humdrum happiness and small spats
meaning nothing. May Mr.. Crot'y never dis
cover that he has mission, or that his soul
is of the elevated sort! May Mrs. Crotty bear
children (dear little Crotties) and nurture them
with no shadow of a theory to bother her!
In this day of divorces and affinities and in
cOmpatibities, blest are the simple OF
soul who forget the breakfast table tiff
before dinner time, and never think of
taking their petty troubles either to the
divorce courts the newspapers! For we
do MT believe in constant peace either in the
household or anywhere else. Matilda will
not always be pleased with the conduct of
her Crotty, nor will John always see in his
Matilda the angel of the honeymoon. But
that is no reason why they should not get
along tolerably together. The blessing of the
Lord is upon averages. In medic tutissimus,
as the prOverb has it. For our own part, we
are willing to acknowledge in these feverish
days great yearning toward commonplace
people, who write no poetry, and are
content with life's jOg-trOt duties. De-
pend upon it, to this kind Is the world
indebted for whatever happiness it may
rescue from wrecked hopes and disappointed
ambitions. Wordsworth was right. A woman
lures daily food. Her irritating restlessness
may grow to bother. Her elegant sentimen-
talities may lead to nerves. She may expect
an impossible happiness from marriage and
grow morbid with disappointment. And what
we say of Her we may say with equal pro-
priety of Him. Happy both if God vOuchsafes
to them the inestimable blessing of Obscurity
and the mild lot of the majority! Beautiful is
the family teapot when no tempests rage
therein! Lucky the husband whose wife calls
him "Mr." before folk, and is only suspected
of sometimes addressing him in secret
by his baptismal name! Lucky the
wife who at all points of do
mestic economy is infallible; who knows
her rights, and knowing dare maintain, and
who is much respected by her husband on
account of her courage! Thrice blessed is
the household into which no philosophy
has entered, which is fragrant with kindly
intuitons, which is human in all its ways,
and preserved from the ill-savOr of dead and
buried affection by the antseptic of common
sense!
Such, we trust, will be the home of these
Crotties, away down in Texas The little
prose hymeneal before us tells us that John
Crotty has "a brave and open heart"-a very
good thing to have; and that Matilda Crotty
(born Baker, has "a cheerful, happy, smiling
disposition" which is also good thing to
have. 1t is necessary in these disastrous
DAYS sometimes to stop and obstinately remem-
Der that marriage may mean happiness. Dear
reader, be .yOu stern or soft of sex, pray
remember that life in all its varieties, includ-
ing married life, is just what we make it
That patience and forbearance are not bad in
their way! That sefishness is always misery,
and that there is no selfshness worse than that
of an oyer-refned and querulOus character.