Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-08-19
Gsnrd:tef frltelliqcncr1
SATURDAY EVENING. AUG. 10, 1882.
A Krfght Practice.

A bright Practice.
Everybody knows that there is great
deal of difficulty in practically deter
mining who is insane. Insanity is very
readily defined to be unsoundness of
mind. and insane people, who are likely
t. be dangerous members of society,
ought certainly to be confined in lunat;c
asylums. But the trouble comes in
measuring the degree of mental un
soundness which constitutes insanity
and the imminence of the danger from
which society needs to be protected by
the confinement of its obnoxious men,
bers. The undoubted fact being that
comparatively few persons are possessed
of entirely sound and thoroughly we'll
adjusted intellects, there is every degree
of unsoundness from the mildest eccen-
tricity to the widest madness to be
considered and that the effort of the
law and the laws executors to seizs
upon and coniine just those who need to
he secluded is not a conspicuous success
is not surprising. We all know that u
great many who ought to be in asylums
are not there, and it sometimes
happens that people get there who
are entitled to their liberty.
The New York journals have been lay-
ing good deal to say lately about the
case Of one Obreight who finds himself
in lunatic asylum at the instance OF
some of his relatives, and who likes the
situation SO little that he is trying very
hard to get out and the referee who has
been taking the testimony decides that
he is perfectly sane man. lie seems to
have been very lively creature and has
demonstrated his disposition during
these proceedings before the court by
throwing pepper into the eyes of those
who were leading him captive. The
referee very sensibly seems to have COLI
sidered this demonstration OF his Objec-
tion to captivity as symptom Of sanity
rather than the reverse rs he probably
regarded, too, another act that was very
strongly relied upon by the relatives to
justify their view of Obreight's in
sanity. 1t seems he had married wife
on short notice and the very hriefest &C
quaintance. Assuming it to he true
that matlimOny is not an insane act.
it may easily be maintained that the man
who contracts it in the shortest metre and
with the least exchange of ante-nuptial
kisses and correspondence is the wise
man. Mr.. Obreight says that true it is
that he was not personally acquainted
with his wife before he married her, but
he declares that lie consulted friends who
did know her and satisfied himself thus
at secondhand that she was just the
woman for him. Mr.. Obreight evidently
approved of the European system of
entering the holy state, and even of that
of other people where the wife is not
even seen before she is married, but is
carried 20 the husbands hcuse veiled
and dumped into his arms with all her
beauties fresh as the dew on the morn
ing grass. 1t would take many big asy-
lums to hold all the husbands who get
their wives unseen and unknown; and it
would never do to have the law denOm-
mate them crazy.
We have not observed that the
lawyers of Obreight made any elabO.
rate effort to prove his eminent
sanity by reason of his remarkably sensi
ble way of plunging into matrimony !;
they appear to have contented them
selves with simply holding that at any
rate his matrimonial method did not
prove him to be insane. But there are
obvious advantages, too numerous TO
mention in fact, to show the wisdom of
taking a wife g unsight unseen," as the
boys say. In the first place if every
woman ought to be married, as is theo-
retically maintained, this is clearly the
only way of accomplishing that design of
their creation. That is an advantage to
the women. The advantage to the men
comes from their avoidance of the snares
of the engagement period to say nothing
Of its expenses. And the chance is that
they will get just as good wives on the
average for you will hardly find any.
one who, in criticising the matrimonial
ventures Of his or her acquaintances
will not in the large majority of cases
wholly disapprove the choice they have
made; and, perhaps, we would not
be very rash if we intimated
that should the veil Ike lifted
from married lives generally, the cyni
cal judgment of the married peoples
friends would be justified.
Marriage is a lottery everybody
says then why not shut your
eyes when you draw your prize
and save yourself the trouble Of selec.
ton aud the mental disquietude Of
having made fool of yourself with your
eyes open? Would it not be a deal
pleasanter to be able to get rid of your
free agency in the matter of your matri.
mony, and to cOnscientiOusly condemn
your luck as the sole responsible source
of your woes And then in the
Obreight practice there would never be
any breach of promise cases which
would he boon not only to the tickle
man, but to the disappointed woman
aud to disguised society. The Obreight
system only requires that you should
have good friends, with sound judgment
of female quality. Viewing the object
proposed for your alliance with
unprejudiced eyes their decision ought