, 1874-03-22


person which are presumably Of considerable
personal mportanca-bi,th, marriage, and death.
Very few people at the tlmo Of birth take any
immediate interest in that event, although, for
the practice of law, real-estate operations. fo-
male crusades, support Of families, and othot
necessities, it is an Indispensable prerequisite.
In the second event, every person, except old
bacLelors and old maids, takes = peculiarly
lively interest. In the third, few, ex-
cept the very good people, hare anything
but remote interest, and the ren1otar the event
the moro satisfactory it is likely to pro7e. Some
people regret that they were born, and wouldn't
have been if they could have had voice in the
matter; but most people are thankful for it.
Some people regret that they were married; but
most people are thankful for it. Whether any
ono regrets that he died is puzzle no: likely to
be solved until telegraph communication can be
established with the invisible world. With the
amount of interest that is taken in these three
events, it mey be still more interesting to
know what these three events cost, and how
much money is spent in this country
annually in getting born, getting murried, and
getting buried, According to the last census,
there vera !, 100 ATS births il the United States
u is safe to presume that the DOCTORS bill for
bringing the youthful stranger into this world
will average 500. The nurse is an expensive
luxury, and, as she is the autocrat Of ths house,
hold from threA to four weeks, at the average Of
e20 per week, it is safe to set down 9G0 as her
allowance for taking care Of the chl1d, fighting
the doctor, keeping the mother quiet, and tho
paterfamilias under subjection. In this estimate
we do not include the beer which the pro-
fessional nurse consumes, as TINT is ne
cessity of the situation, the money value Of
which can hardly be computed; neither the
wear and tear of the household serenity which
this useful creature occasions during the brief
supremacy. There is one more item which
enters tho birth expense. Every woman has
pride in her offspring, and, it she has one
vanity moro pronounced than another, it is that
her baby shall have az complete and elegant
trousseau as Mrs. Jones'. The trousseau there
fore may be set down at s75. Then there
are other little incidentals, like rubber rings.
raft1es, soothing syrup. and baby carriages,
which will swell the whole amount to about $500
per head. Multiplying this by 1,100.475, tho
number OF births Us set down in the census, and
the reader will ut once see that the annual crop
OF babies costs the country 9220 095, 900. Having
been born and paid for, it is the next duty OF this
costly human being to get married. The num-
ber OF marriages annually in this country is not
given in tho census, and We can only get at it
approximately. In Cook County there were
G,41y licenses issued in 1873 BY the Clerk.
This gives one marriage to every 10 Of
the population. Applying this ratio to the entire
population OF the country, there are about SEQ,
900 marriages per annum. For every marriage
there are certain absolute necessities of E cash
nature. Tho minister must be paid his fee,
averaging, Say, $40. Trousscaus arc cheap at
$500. An ordinary weddng-supper will average
a2', and the flowers like amount. The newly
married pair will be lucky If their wedding
trip does not cost than 800. Almost every one
can afford IS wedding-ring and that indis-
pensoble little document, the license, is the
cheapest, although the most important, item in
the whole list, costing 6214 cents. We have,
therefore, the following bill for marrying, paid
annually b. the people Of this country:
Minister'S TO- 600
Yzousseaos.. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 15t0000u0
Suppers- 12,50e 900
Flowers 12,500,O9O
Netidng-stips.. booo0000
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