Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-03-12
OUR NATIONAL CAPITAL.
rue OapIIaI marriage Market.
IRON our Rogular Correspondent.

fNOHl Jul RobuAui correspondent
The marked absence Of matrimonial en-
terprise in Washington. is at present a
common complaint The thread bare plea
Of depression of trade may cover a multi
tude Of shortcomings and sins, but it is
an insufficient explanation of the fact. It i
may be that, as is said, a fall in bread
is Immediately followed by an increase in
bands. But the principle, II applicable to
a struggling proetariat, can scarcely be
extended by the most charitable Of interpret
ers to those endowed with full share Of
this worlds goods and graces. Yet it is over
these hast that the chaperons lament most
bitterly. Amid the complex web Of cir
cumstances which give rise to periodical
cycles Of anti-matrimonial prejudice, there
are certain we'll defined notions which
cloud the outlook Of the eligible batehe-
lor Partly passing shadows Of latter day
conditions, they combine to form gloomy
back ground to the SUMMER aspects Of mar
ried life. The visionary ideal Of love in a
cottage, has faded amid the common light
of q toiling and moiling humanity, fever
stricken by social rivalries Happiness has
been defined, and has lost its bloom in the
process. married and marred" is the
popular criticism passed by his ootempo-
rarie on the occasional victim to a des-
perate matrimonial designer.
1t is roundly asserted that Americans in
fashionable life have lost the power Of
falling in love. Perhaps, to the Huttering
heart Of the dibutants Miss Emma, the
partner IN every dance is possible part
ner Tor life. In American urban society,
home spun sentiment is past praying for.
II distance lends a certain enohantment
which, should the spell remain unbroken,
might be fatal, close inspection and more
intimate relations may exagerate defects,
just,as the leus reproduces, but the flaw In
the brilliant. The cause may lilo deeper.
Frederiek's yfaRcss must pass muster
among his friends No longer oye-sick
tests--perhaps too much-that Emma Is
the great neIce OF Senator, or the second
cousin Of Rn Admiral, It is less important
that she is pretty than that she moves on a
select social plane.
The shield, has, however, another side.
To some, matrimony seems q sea Of troub-
les, beset with shoals and quicksands, dan
geroas even II not fatal. The conception
l Ibf marriage as the gateway TO liberty Is
not confined 10 France; and virtue has
been eyuieally defined as the absence OF
Temptation. II may be that Providenea
has happily allotted plain, wife. She
ltalks aTt aud turns out . blue-stOeking--
very likely q downright bore. IL, less
luckily, another Is predestined to find his
fate 10 beauty, She aspires 10 sail la The
orbit OF professional lionesses; and her
amiRble ambition results 10 the total
eclipse and permanent effaoement OF the
husband, who, after many wast6iul regrets
for batohelor memories finally gravitates
towards old hGnrts, now half forgotten,
and the unSettered happiness of Club
tastes. The free.thinking partisan Of
batehelor ethics find IN hlma suggestive
subject for clinical lecture upon their
iavorite philosophy. AilaTBer class have
prOhted by the warnings iSshed by those
whose engaging simplicity has found too
late that women betTay, despite long en-
gagement. llH f.hHi 10 .iWt NJ .l.
/ Even without an open rupture, a long
I Alliance Is a searching ordeal for the most
loyal Of lovers. The diplomaoyoi passion,
In the earlier stage OF an understanding
mot yet declared, the demoralizlng effect
Of Uncertainties, passing storm clouds OF
} Jealousy, the reporting at headquarters II
J they open out only a long vista Of rather
! commonplace, but vigorously exactel du.
tifulness, will Aissipate the volatile es,
0 senoe of attraction which centre IN the
B wobed and won Even the wedding day
I though happily shofh Of much that mad,
J it sheer purgatory TO the brdegroolns
. hold out dIsquieting prospect. Tn,
3 hero and the haroine Of the oepemony NJ
o longer stay 70 share the morning feast, Blu
0 the wedding day Is the ladies' fleld day
I The bridegroom and his supporters are
! necessary but ineonyenient inepmbeFaDee
8 to be kept sedulousy In the background
o during the solemn week Of unbFoken sac
I rihce to the Graces, which inaugurates tn
Q approaching ritual. To the difident ant