Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-10-04

nate with one anOlnefs anu thhb
visiting outside Of them is a rare /
exception. He viii find also that
.hese families have amusements
kept up among them, generally ola
more or less intellectual character.
They viii practice music together,
or read aloud and converse about
the authors perused, or occasionally
a dance will be got up among them,
at all which recreations the heads
Of the family are present and par
ticipate in the amusements.
Throughout all this he will find
himself recognized as a visitor to
the family, not te the young ladies
exclusively, still. less to one Of them
exclusively. Thus after his first in
yited visit ne is allowed and even
expected to make a morning call,
but ne calls on the family; tis card
Is taken to the mistress of the house,
who receives him in the drawing |
room, which is, not like the parlor |
Of one Of our houses, a room set |
apart from family use for calls from
individuals, but is a family apart
ment, and he is received and enter
tanned by the family circle, to no
one Of whom individually his visit
is appropriated, except that it is
primarily considered as made to
the lady Of the house; and we will
say at once to the young American
who may find himself in this posi-
ton that unless he can join in gene
raj conversation, unless his tongue
and brain can move without being
inspired by a tete-a-tete in a corner
unless, i'm short, he can talk some
other talk but love-talk, he had
better give up all idea of intimacies
in English society. The sort of
lOve-sick nonsense which is adj
dressed to an American girl as the
correct thing at the second visit
will not go down at all, but will
produce either alarm or ridicule,
according to the character of the
young lady addressed.
We are here prepared for the
question, elbow do English young
ladies get married p 1t is a fair
question, and we recognize it as
touching the main point at issue,
for at the very commencement OF
these papers we laid it down as the
main criterion for judging any social
arrangements to enquire how far
they are favorable to marriages, and
love marriages at that.
We will premise therefore that
however unfavorable these arrange
ments may seem so far to the bust
ness of counting (Which we recog-
nize as the most important business
of life), English young ladies do get
married, and, as general thing,
English women do love their hus-
bands. We believe, in truth, that
both these highly desirable results
of social arrangements are more
successfully realized in England
than in either of the other countries
we have compared with her. 1t is
admitted that the process of becOm-
ing intimate enough with girl to
court her is both a slower and a
more elaborate one in England than
in this country, but we also believe
| that that very slOwness and elabOra-
ton is more favorable to the fOrma-
| ton Of attachments which involve
the whole intellectual and moral
nature than the more rapid process
in vogue here. We suppose it will
not do to question the idea that
American girls love the men they
marry; we do not question it. But
suppose the question were put as
follows: ado they in most cases
love the man they marry with a
devotion and singleness of heart
which they have never experienced
for any other?'' We think that the
answer would be mach more doubt
full. We will put our own question:
"Are not a large number of our
marriages contracted mainly upon
the following principle ?' A young
lady has received much attention
in society; she has been cOurted
more than once and large number
of gentlemen have come as near as
they were permitted to the stage of
formal courtship, some very near,
others not so near, and she must
have taken into consideration the
relative expediency of marrying
one or the other; is il not true in a
large number of cases that the one
ultimately taken is elected, not be-
cause he is better beloved than
some of the others, but because the
time has come when it won't do to
wait any longer, the terrible altern-
alive of old-maidenship precipitat-
ing matters. We are not going to
deny that some marriages of this
sort have been and are pure and
happy marriages, but we do hold
that the fewer they are the better
prospect of married happiness, and
it is with view to the diminution
of their number that we are now
writing.
There are two sorts of counting;
they are counting for amusement
! and counting as a business. The
two prevail generally in an inverse
ratio; where the former is most
prevalent the latter fourishes least.
We believe it to the interest of sOci.
ETY. that opportunities of counting
for amusement should be curtailed
as much as possible, and some of
the English customs we have been
describing have exactly that ten
dency, and are approved by us for
that reason.
We have not nearly done with
them; there are many others, among
which we will mention now the
IL A Il