Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1881-03-30
MATRIMONY AND AGE.
Precedents for Burdett. Coutts and Ba,

Precedents for Burdett- Coutts and Bartlett.
Correspondence Cincinnati Gazette.
Speaking of oblivion, it is surprising how
rapidly even the great fall out Of notice
Carlyle and George Eliot were literally
wonders, and they are already dropping
from observation. The latter was buried
at Highgate, which is already known as the
resting place of Coleridge. The fact that
her husband John Walter Cross was 50
much younger (twenty years. than herself
occasioned much comment. This however,
is not without precedent in literary and So.
cial life. One of the preceding clergy Of
his senior, and the union appears congen-
ial. Mohammed's wife was twenty years
older than her husband, and it is much to
the credit of the latter that he honored her
to the last. He ascribed much of
his success to her assistance and influence.
John Howard, the philanthropist, married
out Of gratitude woman who was equally
his senior. She died in a few years. how
ever, and his second union was one of love-
It was, however, also dissolved by the death
of his wife, and then he devoted himself to
philanthrophy. Napoleon's first wife, Jo- \
sephine, was his senior by six years, being
80 at the time of their marriage while he
was twenty-five. It would have been
well LUZ Hill 10 ftlucu AcI
gal love, whose violation was the beginning
of his ruin. Aaron Burr also married a
widow, who like Josephine had two chill
dren. Mrs. Burr was ten years older than
her husband, but the union was very har-
monious. She probably allowed that large
liberty with the fair sex to which he had
been accustomed, and thus avoided domes-
tic quarrels. John Wilkes, the famous
London agitator of the last century married
a lady who was ten years his senior, but
she was not willing to overlook his irregu-
larities, and hence obtained divorce.
johnson, the photographer, married the
widow Porter, who had small property.
He was acquainted with the family before
the death of her husband, and this helped
in the matter of courtship. Mrs. Porter
was 4S, while her husband was only 81 at
the time of the wedding. The latter was
certainly one of very peculiar character.
The parties started horseback for the place L.
where the ceremony was to be performed,
and johnson thus describes the journey to
Boswell: ''Sir, she had got it into her
head, from old rOmances, that a woman Of
spirit should use her lover like a dog. At\
first she told me rode too fast, and she
could not keep up with me, but when I
Stacked my pace she passed me, and COM
planned thatI Jagged. I was not to be made
the slave OF caprice, and, therefore, pushed
on till was out Of her sight When she
got to the destination observed she was in
tears" johnson always mourned the loss of
his wife, and though he was only 43 at the
time Of her death he never married again.
How often in his subsequent writings he re-
fers to his lost companion in the most af-
fectonate manneri
When only 18 Shakespeare was married to I.
Anne Hathaway, whose age was rs. Six
months from the wedding day son was
born to this ill mated pair. The husband
and father had no means of supporting a
family, and when the latter had increased
to the number of son and two daughters
he fed to London. The deserted wife
supported her children as best she could,
and twenty years afterward her husband re-
turned, and by his subsequent conduct
strove to atone for his early error. Such
facts as these prove that John Walter Cross
in marrying Marion Evans had some strik- !
ing precedents